


Half Blood: Goblet of Fire

by PostMortemPixie



Series: Half Blood [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, F/F, F/M, POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:39:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 79,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8522476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PostMortemPixie/pseuds/PostMortemPixie
Summary: Maddy Mender returns to Hogwarts for her fourth year, hoping for a simple, normal, uneventful year for once. But of course, she was wrong.





	1. The World Cup

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished, yay! I would like to thank the election for a long, sleepless night of crying and anxiety.
> 
> Now, there will be no election quips in this fanfiction but there will be at least one in OotP because I'm salty, scared, gay and mad. 
> 
> Side note, I'm at my grandma's and she's listening to Cotton Eyed Joe, I'm dying?

"I swear," Maddy Mender said, panting after adding on another slab of wood onto the horse-stable-in-progress, "if there is one more war I will actually implode. Not exaggerating. I'll just fold into myself and become a tiny black hole."

"Well, this one was a lot less destructive than previous ones," Annabeth Chase pointed out. "Surprising since this one was with basically the mother of - oh gods, your owl servant's coming."

"She is not a servant, she is a magic owl who gets to do whatever she wants," Maddy corrected as she followed Annabeth's gaze. "Also, that is not my owl, that is a different one." She squinted as the admittedly tiny owl got closer and closer. "That is absolutely Ron's, no doubt, no one else has that small an owl. _OW!_ " The daughter of Hades exclaimed as the owl crashed into her face and got it's claws tangled in her hair dropping the letter twice it's size to the ground.

"Need help?" Annabeth asked as Maddy fought with the energetic owl to try to get it out of her hair.

"Yes, you have permission to cut it out."

Annabeth almost immediately managed to get the bird out and it flew down to the ground and excitedly waited as Maddy sat down, grabbed the envelope and opened it up without thanking the daughter of Athena. She quickly read over it and found that her friend, Ron Weasley, was asking her if she wanted to go to the Quidditch World Cup, which kind of reminded Maddy of the Olympics but with only one sport and two teams. On second thought, the FIFA world cup or the super bowl might be a better comparison.

_Ron,_

_Yeah, I'm going to the world cup, Bella got me a ticket since her dad got one for his non-existent wife the Ministry thinks he has for some reason. I think Elliot is too since sometime at the beginning of the summer she sent me a letter that simply said 'I'M BEING FORCED TO SUFFER' followed by a really bad doodle of a snitch..._

_-Maddy_

Maddy tied the letter to the owl's leg and it energetically flew away.

* * *

A few days later, Bella, who had been helping out around Camp Half Blood with some other Roman demigods since the war with Gaea had pretty much decimated the camp, got Maddy to take her to have lunch at a small New York restaurant before her dad apparated down to New York to pick them up and take them to his house in Ireland for a few days before the World Cup.

"So, what's your dad like?" Maddy asked Bella as they waited in a wizard shop really close to the Empire State Building that Maddy hadn't previously known about but Bella for some reason did.

"Well, loud," Bella started, "he has this _really_ thick Irish accent-"

" _You_ have a really thick Irish accent."

"I know, but his is like _wow_."

"But yours-"

"Is watered down from years of spending summers in America."

"I can't believe that. Enough with the lies, tell me more about your dad," Maddy stated.

"Alright, he's... weird? I don't know he's my dad, I don't know how to explain what he's like." There was a sudden _pop!_ as Bella's dad made a very timely appearance. "Hey, dad!"

The tall, broad-shouldered, red haired man standing before Maddy said something in a deep voice and with a genuinely indecipherable accent. Bella was not exaggerating, in fact she has been under exaggerated.

"Hi, I'm Maddy - I mean, no wait that's right. For some reason I thought I said something else, I don't know what but," Maddy shrugged. "I'm Maddy."

"Ah, hello, Maddy," Bella's dad said and his accent was actually a lot easier to decipher since Maddy was prepared for the thickness of it. "I'm glad we finally get to meet, Bell has said quite a bit about you."

Maddy wasn't quite sure what to say next, so she ended up saying, "Cool..."

A few minutes later, after rudimentary chatting and catching up, Mr Nevra apparated the the three of them to the giant estate that belonged to the Nevras. It was actually rather large, in fact, it was large enough for Bella's grandparents to live in the mansion and for her to almost never cross their paths, which is exactly what happenes.

"This is almost as big as my dad's place," Maddy said as he looked around.

"Yep," Bella said, "it goes back to the time where people never moved away from their families and every person had at least twelve children. Now, come on, it's tour time!" She dragged Maddy around the house, finishing up at the room that she would be staying in, across the hall from Bella's.

* * *

The next day they woke up in the early morning so they could have time to organize the tent they would be staying in. Mr Nevra apparated his daughter and Maddy to a place that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere where there were two grumpy looking men, one was holding a large gold watch, the other a thick roll of parchment and a quill. Both were dressed as muggles, though it was not well executed at all. The man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes and his colleague was in a kilt and a poncho.

"Good morning, Basil," Mr Nevra said cheerfully.

"Morning, Linus," the kilted wizard replied. "Your group ought to move aside, a large party's about to come in from Stoatshead Hill. Hang on, I'll find your campsite... Nevra... Nevra... ah, about a quarter mile that way, first field."

"Thank you, Basil!" Mr Nevra chimed and he, Bella and Maddy walked away. A few minutes later Maddy could very faintly hear Basil saying, "Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill."

Once they had reached their spot Mr Nevra simply waved his wand and a folded up tent flew out of the bag on his back and set itself up. It was a huge tent and it somehow had _three stories_ and, Maddy later found, came with its own library, kitchen, two full bathrooms and four individual bedrooms each with their own half bathroom.

"That's a really big tent," Maddy said. "How does it have three stories and not collapse?"

"Magic," Bella grinned. "Literally. You should know this, Mads."

"Yeah, probably."

"Hmm," Mr Nevra thoughtfully stared at the mansion of a tent and then said, "This seems to be fine, I'm going to go explore!" He got a childish gleam in his eyes and skipped away.

"Your dad is... weird," Maddy noted.

"Yep, wanna go find - Neptune's beard, it's Harry, Ron and Hermione! Hey guys!" Bella began to wave frantically and Maddy turned to see that only a few tents away Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were turning to face the two demigods. Bella and Maddy quickly walked over to the group.

"I thought I saw you two..." Hermione said. "Right when we got here, I saw you two walking away."

"You came from Stoatshead Hill?" Bella asked.

"Yeah," Ron confirmed.

"Whoa, aren't there a lot of wizards over there? The Nevra Estate's _soooo_ far away from _everything_ ," the daughter of Bellona huffed.

"It's so big that her grandparents live in the same house as her and she rarely ever sees them," Maddy added.

"That is a big house," Harry noted and Maddy nodded.

"We actually live pretty far from everything too," Ron sighed. "We woke up before the sun even rose and had to walk for _hours_ before getting to the portkey."

"But there are _so many_ wizarding families that live around there, Ron. I don't care how long it took you but I guarantee you could walk to another person's house! If I remember correctly the Diggorys, the Lovegoods and the Fawcetts. Now that I list them there really aren't that many, but still. Also, there's probably some others that live around there."

"Ah, Maddy, Bella," Mr Weasley walked over to them, holding a mallet and a rope that he had been using while attempting to set up one of his tents. "Good morning, do either of you know how to put up a tent like a muggle?"

"No... also why?" Maddy asked. "You could just use magic."

"There's no magic allowed."

"But everyone else is using magic..."

"Well, we do like to show off when we gather and just because others aren't following the rules doesn't mean we won't too."

"I know how to set up a tent," Bella offered.

"Right, thank you. Harry, Hermione, Maddy, d'you think you could lend a hand as well?"

'Sure," Harry and Hermione said.

"I honestly don't know how to set up a tent and I'd probably end up knocking it over," Maddy shrugged.

Harry, Hermione, Bella and a few of the Weasleys started trying to set up the tents, Bella was done fairly quickly with the tent she and Harry had been working on and the other tent was set up soon after that as Bella gave them instructions on how to set it up and Harry joined Maddy and Ginny in sitting on the ground and watching the others struggle.

"The tents seem a bit too small for ten of us," Harry said as he sat down.

"They're enlarged on the inside," Ginny said.

"Like my bag of like everything," Maddy added, gesturing to the bag on her back. "Remember that? I haven't made a big deal out of this thing since like first year."

"Oh yeah." Harry said.

"We'll be a bit cramped," Mr Weasley called upon finishing setting up the second tent, "but I think we'll all squeeze in. Come and have a look."

One by one, everyone ducked into the bigger tent, which would be th boys tent while Hermione and Ginny would be sleeping in the smaller one.

The tent looked like an old-fashioned, three-room apartment, complete with bathroom and kitchen while still having a similar feel to the Burrow with the crocheted covers on the mismatched chairs and a strong smell of cats.

"Well, it's not for long," said Mr. Weasley, mopping his bald patch with a handkerchief and peering in at the four bunk beds that stood in the bedroom. "I borrowed this from Perkins at the office. Doesn't camp much anymore, poor fellow, he's got lumbago." He picked up the dusty kettle and peered inside it. "We'll need water..."

"There's a tap marked on this map the Muggle gave us," said Ron. "It's on the other side of the field."

"Well, why don't you, Harry, Hermione, Maddy and Bella go and get us some water then-" Mr. Weasley handed over the kettle and a couple of saucepans "-and the rest of us will get some wood for a fire?"

"But we've got an oven," said Ron. "Why can't we just-"

"Ron, anti-Muggle security!" said Mr. Weasley, his face shining with anticipation. "When real Muggles camp, they cook on fires outdoors. I've seen them at it!"

"Don't worry, we have like two ovens in ours," Bella whispered.

Shortly afterwards, Harry, Maddy, Ron, Hermione and Bella set out to get some water. There were people emerging from their tents and beginning to cook their breakfast, lighting fires either with their wands or matches. There were also small children, running around with their parents wands or flying on toy broomsticks.

"Er - is it my eyes, or has everything gone green?" said Ron.

It wasn't just Ron's eyes. They had walked into a patch of tents that were all covered with a thick growth of shamrocks, so that it looked as though small, oddly shaped hillocks had sprouted out of the earth. Grinning faces could be seen under those that had their flaps open. Then, from behind them, they heard their names.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Maddy! Bella!" It was Seamus Finnigan, a fourth year Gryffindor. He was sitting in front of his own shamrock-covered tent, with a sandy-haired woman who had to be his mother, and his best friend, Dean Thomas, also of Gryffindor and, to the surprise of the five of them, Elliot.

"Oh thank Merlin!" She exclaimed. "Later, nerds!" She stood up and walked over to her friends.

Seamus and Dean seemed unfazed by this as the former said, "Like the decorations?" with a grin. "The Ministry's not too happy."

"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" said Mrs. Finnigan. "You should see what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" she added, eyeing Harry, Ron, Bella, Maddy and Hermione beadily.

When they had assured her that they were indeed supporting Ireland, they set off again, though, as Ron said, "Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot."

"I've been here for _weeks_ ," Elliot said as they walked away. "Seamus and Dean came a few days ago and they were a break from my awful family so I joined them but they weren't much better! All they would talk about was Quidditch and they, of course, got really pissy when I told them I was supporting Bulgaria, even though I am only supporting any team because my family are a bunch of avid Ireland supporters."

"That sounds _sooo_ awful, El," Maddy rolled her eyes. "You definitely win the award for worst summer."

"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents?" said  
Hermione curiously as they exited the Irish area.

"Let's go and have a look," said Harry, pointing to a large patch of tents upfield, where the Bulgarian flag -white, green, and red- was fluttering in the breeze.

The tents here had not been bedecked with plant life, but each and every one of them had the same poster attached to it, a poster of a very surly face with heavy black eyebrows. The picture was, of course, moving, but all it did was blink and scowl.

"Who is this moody bird of prey?" Maddy asked upon seeing the picture.

"How dare you," Bella hissed.

"Krum," said Ron quietly.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Krum!" said Ron. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks really grumpy," she noted. "'Moody bird of prey' is a good description for him."

"'Really grumpy? Moody bird of prey?" Ron raised his eyes to the heavens. "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

"He's fucking amazing," Bella added.

There was already a small queue for the tap in the corner of the field. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella and Maddy joined it, right behind a pair of men who were having a heated argument. One of them was a very old wizard who was wearing a long flowery nightgown. The other was clearly a Ministry wizard; he was holding out a pair of pinstriped trousers and almost crying with exasperation.

"Just put them on, Archie, there's a good chap. You can't walk around like that, the muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious-"

"I bought this in a Muggle shop," said the old wizard stubbornly. "Muggles wear them."

"Muggle women wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear these," said the Ministry wizard, and he brandished the pinstriped trousers.

"I'm not putting them on," said old Archie in indignation. "I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks."

Hermione and Bella were overcome with such a strong fit of the giggles at this point that they had to duck out of the queue and only returned when Archie had collected his water and moved away.

Walking more slowly now, because of the weight of the water, they made their way back through the campsite. Here and there, they saw more familiar faces: other Hogwarts students with their families. Oliver Wood, the old captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, who had just left Hogwarts, dragged Harry and Bella over to his parents' tent to introduce them, and told them excitedly that he had just been signed to the Puddlemere United reserve team. Next they were hailed by Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff fourth year, and a little farther on they saw Cho Chang, a girl who played Seeker on the Ravenclaw team. She waved and smiled at Harry, who slopped quite a lot of water down his front as he waved back, which caused Elliot to laugh madly and Maddy to say, "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Harry asked.

"Romantic feelings, Harry, they're gross," she contorted her face is disgust.

"What are you talking about?" He chuckled nervously.

"Harry, you just slopped water all over yourself just because you got waved at." Harry fell silent at this and simply glared at the daughter of Hades.

"You've been ages," said George when they finally got back to the Weasleys' tents.

"Met a few people," said Ron, setting the water down. "We also found Elliot. You not got that fire started yet?"

"Dad's having fun with the matches," said Fred.

"Ooh matches," Elliot's face lit up. "Those are fun."

"You are _not_ going near them," Bella sighed.

Mr Weasley was having no success at all in lighting the fire, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Splintered matches littered the ground around him, but he looked as though he was having the time of his life.

"Oops!" he said as he managed to light a match and promptly dropped it in surprise.

"Come here, Mr. Weasley," said Hermione kindly, taking the box from him, and showing him how to do it properly.

At last they got the fire lit, but it was nowhere near hot or large enough to cook anything over it. It would take another hour at least to get to that point.

"Hey, guys," Elliot said as she fished around in one of the pockets of the honesty large pants she was wearing. "Remember that potion I was working on last year?"

"Yes," Maddy and Hermione nodded.

"Kind of," Bella added.

"No..." Harry and Ron said, their heads cocked to the side in confusion.

"Well, I finished it!" Elliot said and pulled a small phial from her pocket. It was filled with a pink liquid. "And now, I'm going to test it."

"What does it do?" Harry asked.

"No clue, hopefully you'll see what it's supposed to do," she shrugged and without further ado she uncapped the phial and poured the contents of it over her head while the others shrieked in alarm at the suddenness of it and the high probability of the potion not being safe.

Slowly, the pink solution began to disappear from Elliot's being everywhere but her short hair, which was now a vibrant pink.

"Ah yes, a success," she nodded, satisfied with the results.

"Why would you do that!" Hermione exclaimed. "What if it was poisonous! Or dangerous!"

"Relax, Hermione, I know well enough to avoid mixing together toxic ingredients. I know you know this because you are just as smart as I am. Besides, I figured this couldn't be worse than being turned into a brown yeti."

"Did that happen?" Bella asked.

"Yes it did. Although, that might have been partially on purpose because I almost got to skip out on a family dinner but instead everyone started saying that cousin Priya might have captured me instead of an _actual_ yeti."

"Wow, your family is _amazing_ at insults," Maddy said dully.

"No they actually are, I just don't care enough to recreate their insults to their full extent."

After this they all sat down to wait but they weren't bored at all since the Weasley's tent was pitched right alongside a kind of thoroughfare to the field, and Ministry members kept hurrying up and down it, greeting Mr Weasley cordially as they passed. Mr Weasley kept up a running commentary.

After a long time of that, the fire was finally ready, and they had just started cooking eggs and sausages when Bill, Charlie, and Percy Weasley came strolling out of the woods toward them.

"Just Apparated, Dad," said Percy loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"

"Is it just me or does he seem more pompous than usual?" Maddy whispered.

"He's been boasting all summer," Ron replied, "about that and his job. All he'll ever talk about's his job, which he think's so important even though the only thing he does it write reports on cauldron bottoms."

They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when Mr Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Ludo Bagman was a very noticeable person, he was dressed in long, yellow Quidditch robes with thick black stripes and an image of a wasp on his chest. He looked as if he had once been powerfully built, possibly as strong as the average Camp Half Blood demigod, but he'd obviously spent many years not exercising so his robes were stretched across his stomach. His nose was squashed as if it was once broken. Thanks to all of this along with his round, blue eyes and blond hair Maddy thought he looked considerably like the children of Dionysus, or at least Castor and Pollux at camp, they were the only children of Dionysus Maddy had ever seen.

"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. He was walking as though he had springs attached to the balls of his feet and was plainly in a state of wild excitement. "Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming... and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements... Not much for me to do!"

Percy rushed forward, a hand outstretched, he obviously wanted to make a good impression even if he had loudly voiced his disapproval of the way he ran the department multiple times in the half hour that he had been there -things like this made Maddy think that Percy was better suited for Slytherin than Gryffindor- then Mr Weasley began to introduce them, and then Bagman began taking bets -Fred and George bet all their savings and a fake wand that Bagman found delightful that Ireland would win but Krum would catch the snitch, and Maddy might not know much about Quidditch but she knew that that was a stupid bet.

"I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch," Bagman said after asking for a brew. "My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."

"Mr Crouch?" said Percy, suddenly abandoning his look of poker-stiff disapproval and positively writhing with excitement. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll..."

"Anyone can speak Troll," said Fred dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt." Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look and stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil.

"Looks like your brother's got a crush on his boss," Elliot whispered to Ron, Fred, George and Ginny, all of whom stifled laughter, Harry, Bella and Maddy smiled and Hermione sent them disapproving looks. A wizard dressed in a muggle suit suddenly apparated next to the fire.

"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," said Bagman brightly, patting the ground beside him.

"No thank you, Ludo," said the man, and there was a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."

"Oh is that what they're after?" said Bagman. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."

"Mr Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sinking into a kind of half-bow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh," said Mr Crouch, looking over at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes, thank you, Weatherby." Fred, George and Elliot choked into their own cups and just about everyone else was holding back laughter. Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.

"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur," said Mr Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon Mr Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets." Mr Weasley heaved a deep sigh.

"I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"

"I doubt it," said Mr Crouch, accepting a cup from Percy. "He's desperate to export here."

"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" said Bagman.

"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle," said Mr Crouch. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve, but that was before carpets were banned, of course." He spoke as though he wanted to leave nobody in any doubt that all his ancestors had abided strictly by the law.

"So, been keeping busy, Barty?" said Bagman breezily.

"Fairly," said Mr Crouch dryly. "Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."

"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" said Mr Weasley. Bagman looked shocked.

"Glad! Don't know when I've had more fun... Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to took forward to, eh, Barty?" He'd been about to continued but was stopped by a sharp voice.

"Bagman!" A woman in a muggle suit with long, curly brown hair pulled back into a ponytail with brown eyes and dark skin was marching forward, frowning deeply. Maddy then realised that this was her mother Eleanor Mender.

"Ah, Eleanor!" Bagman said happily, his cheery face juxtaposing her stern and angry one. "Lovely to see you!"

"I told you _not_ to wear your old Quidditch outfit, how many times do I have to tell you, wear muggle clothing at large wizarding events in places where muggles can get suspicious. Do you know how many times we've had to obliviate the muggles working here just because of you?" Every word she said was clearly articulated despite the fact that her teeth were clenched.

"But, Eleanor-"

"Stop it," she said sharply, pointing at Bagman, her hand stiff. "If you aren't wearing discrete enough clothing the next time I see you I am going to make sure someone from either my department or the Department of Wizard-Muggle Relations confirms that your outfit will _not_ attract suspicion."

"I don't have any muggle-"

" _Buy some_ ," she interrupted Bagman again.

"But Archie-"

"Isn't wearing Quidditch robes," Maddy's mother interrupted once again, then she sighed and turned to Mr Weasley, suddenly smiling. "Arthur."

"Eleanor," Mr Weasley greeted. "Would you like a cup of tea."

"I'd love one, thanks," she sighed. "I may not be the head of the department yet but there's so much to do, especially since Amelia's got to look after her niece, so I get all the work she doesn't have time for."

"Sounds hard," Mr Weasley said.

"Yeah, we've got too many Aurors, but a lot of them are new so they're really more trouble than they're worth right now, then we have not _nearly_ enough people from the Improper Use of Magic division and the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, then we only have _one_ person from the Intoxicating Substances division who isn't here on a break. You'd be surprised at how many people overdrink at events like this."

"I would help if I could," Mr Weasley sighed.

"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," Mr Crouch suddenly spoke. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby." With that he'd given back his tea as Mr Weasley handed Maddy's mother her cup and he pulled Bagman away.

"Thank you, Arthur," she took the cup, her eyes began to look around at the kids. "Are these your children? I have met you five before," she pointed to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella and Elliot. "Hello, Maddy, I was not expecting to you here. I didn't know you knew the Weasleys."

"Yeah," Maddy said, "I've know Mr Weasley longer than I've known you, mom."

"Oh. And everyone else, Arthur? Your children, yes?"

"Yes," Mr Weasley said quickly. "This is Percy, he's just started at the Ministry, and this is George, that's Fred, Bill, Charlie and Ginny."

"Which department?" She asked Percy.

"The Department of International Magical Cooperation," Percy replied quickly.

"Ah, so you're under Barty?"

"Yes, he's an excellent head of department."

"He's... decent," she said. "Of course, he's much better than Bagman." Percy was about to say something more, obviously in defence of Mr Crouch, but instead she introduced herself. "By the way, I'm Eleanor Mender, Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and, as you all have probably gathered, Maddy's mum. Well, I've got to go. Thank you, Arthur. Bye, Maddy." And, without having taken a single sip of it she handed back the cup of tea to Mr Weasley and speedily walked away while yelling at a woman who was shooting out colourful sparks from her wand high into the sky.

"What was Bagman talking about when he said there was more to look forward to?" Fred asked his dad.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Mr Weasley, smiling.

"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy stiffly. "Mr Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."

"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said George.

* * *

"Why would you buy so much?" Maddy asked, looking at the many things Bella was wearing and holding. She was wearing an Ireland themed scarf and a green hat covered in dancing shamrocks while she held an Irish flag that played their national anthem when it waved, as well as a figurine of some Chaser from Ireland as well as two pair of omnioculars.

"Because I can. Take these," she replied excitedly, shoving the second pair of omnioculars into Maddy's hands.

"We better hurry up, girls," Mr Nevra said. "Our seats are high up, we want to get there before too many get there!"

"How high up?" Maddy asked.

"The second highest row. Don't worry though, I'm sure that Jupiter-"

"Zeus."

"-won't mind since you won't actually be flying."

"Yeah, probably, it's just kinda nerve wracking. I go higher up in Hogwarts, so it's fine," Maddy shrugged.

The three of them entered the huge stadium, which could seat a hundred thousand according to Mr Nevra, and sat in their spot right under the top box where several important people, as well as the Weasleys, Ron, Hermione and the de la Mares, were sitting.

Just above Maddy's eye level there was a giant blackboard that kept on scrawling out different messages in golden text that was complete murder on her eyes. It was completely indecipherable and she honestly wasn't interested enough in it to cast the spell to translate words from English to Ancient Greek, though Bella had cast the Latin version of the spell on herself.

"Ooh, a display of the team mascots," Mr Nevra said as he thumbed through a program. "That should be interesting... I wonder what they brought."

"Me too," Bella grinned. "I hope they're displays are just as good as the last ones!"

Suddenly, Maddy and Bella both jumped in alarm as the loud voice of Ludo Bagman resonated throughout the stadium. "Ladies and gentlemen... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" The spectators screamed and clapped. Thousands of flags waved, adding their discordant national anthems to the racket. "And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of scarlet, roared its approval.

"Oooh," Mr Nevra said as he leaned forward in his seat. " _Veela!_ "

"What are Veela?" Maddy asked just as a hundred or so veela glided out onto the field. They were women, and clearly very good looking women, but it was clear to Maddy that they weren't human and it wasn't just because of their white skin that shone like the moon and silky, golden hair. She wondered what exactly the Veela were as thunderous music began to play and the woman began to dance.

All around Maddy, as the Veela began to dance faster and faster, everyone seemed to be drawn to them and there were even several people who had stood up, Bella had in fact gone up to the rail and leaned over, the only things keeping her from leaping over the edge was her father holding on to the back of her shirt.

As the music stopped everyone sat back down, Bella was blushing furiously and she took her seat, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

"What in the name of Hades was that?" Maddy asked over the many angry yells of people who wanted the Veelas to continue.

"Er, Veela just naturally attract people, it's honestly weird that you didn't seem to be effected in the least," she replied.

"And now," roared Ludo Bagman's voice, "kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

The next moment, what seemed to be a great green and gold comet came zooming into the stadium. It did one circuit of the stadium, then split into two smaller comets, each hurtling toward the goal posts. A rainbow arced suddenly across the field, connecting the two balls of light. The crowd oohed and aahed, as though at one of the Hephaestus cabin's fireworks display. Then, the rainbow faded and the balls of light reunited and merged; they had formed a great shimmering shamrock, which rose up into the sky and began to soar over the stands. Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from it, but it was soon discovered to be gold.

"Leprechaun gold vanishes after a few hours," Mr Nevra said to the two girls, both of whom were going to grab some of money. "They're worthless."

"Oh," Maddy sighed disappointedly.

The great shamrock dissolved, the leprechauns drifted down onto the field on the opposite side from the Veela, and settled themselves cross-legged to watch the match.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you, Dimitrov!"

A scarlet-clad figure on a broomstick, moving so fast it was blurred, shot out onto the field from an entrance far below, to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

"Ivanova!"

A second scarlet-robed player zoomed out.

"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand Krum!"

"Aaahhh!" Bella screamed excitedly as she jumped up and down in her seat. "It's him! It's him! Krum!"

"I thought you were an Ireland of supporter," Maddy said.

"I am but Krum's still bloody brilliant!"

"And now, please greet the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman. "Presenting, Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand Lynch!" Seven green blurs swept onto the field. "And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chair Wizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

Maddy didn't pay much attention as the game was being set up and even after Bagman screamed, "Theeeeeeeey're OFF! And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!" Bella was standing up on her seat and dancing around awkwardly with her omnioculars pressed against her face, her head snapping in every direction to follow the game.

"Fingers in your ears!" Mr Nevra called over the roar of the crowd as Bulgaria made their first score. The Veela danced in celebration on the ground as the game continued.

There was a loud uproar at one point when the Irish seeker, Lynch, hit the ground, breaking his nose.

Not long after that, the game ended with Ireland winning but Krum had caught the snitch.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH, BUT IRELAND WINS! Good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

"That was amazing!" Bella cheered. "This is the perfect ending! Ireland wins but Krums is still a badass who caught the snitch!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHO'S LOOKING FORWARD TO FANTASTIC BEASTS? I am!
> 
> It comes out tomorrow for be and I'll probably see it this weekend so yeah!

Maddy laid awake in her bed attempting to get to sleep, but finding it impossible from the nearby, loud celebrations of the Ireland supporters, which Bella and Mr Nevra were part of. They were just outside of their huge tent launching green, shamrock shaped fireworks into the air.

"Finally," she groaned when the Nevras had stopped their celebrations. Things were just as loud as before further away but it would be a lot easier to get to sleep.

However, just before she actually could do so her door slammed open and Bella was screaming at her to get up while ran around the room grabbing a jacket and pants for Maddy.

"Why?" The Daughter of Hades asked sourly and Bella threw the jacket and jeans at her.

"A riot! They're passing right through here! We gotta go!" She yelled and pulled Maddy out of her bed, then picked up the clothes that fell to floor off of Maddy's lap. She then dragged her out of the tent, Maddy quickly realized that the sounds outside were no longer of celebration but fear. There were screams and cries and everyone was running away, towards the forest.

Maddy and Bella ran as fast as they could, effortlessly weaving between the storm of people until they got to Harry, Ron and Hermione just inside the forest.

"Where're the others?" Bella asked.

"No clue," Hermione said in a panicked voice. "We lost them."

"We have to keep moving," Maddy said. "We can worry about the others once _we're_ out of danger, besides, there's a huge crowd and they can defend themselves just fine!"

The five of them started to run through the trees after this, until there was a yelp of pain and Ron was on the ground.

"What happened?" said Hermione anxiously. "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid - _lumos_!" She illuminated her wand and directed its narrow beam across the path. Ron was lying sprawled on the ground.

"Tripped over a tree root," he said angrily, getting to his feet again.

"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said a drawling voice from behind them. Draco Malfoy was standing only a few feet away.

"Go fuck yourself," Ron spat.

"Language, Weasley," said Malfoy, his pale eyes glittering. "Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like her spotted, would you?" He nodded at Hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Hermione defiantly.

"Granger, they're after Muggles," said Malfoy. "D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around... they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh."

"Hermione's a witch," Harry snarled.

"Have it your own way, Potter," said Malfoy, grinning maliciously. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."

"You watch your mouth!" shouted Ron just as Bella yelled, "How _dare_ you!"

"Never mind, guys," said Hermione quickly, seizing Ron and Bella's arms to restrain them both as they each took a step toward Malfoy. There came a bang from the other side of the trees that was louder than anything they had heard. Several people nearby screamed.

Malfoy chuckled softly. "Scare easily, don't they?" he said lazily. "I suppose your daddies told you all to hide? What're they up to - trying to rescue the Muggles?"

"Where're _your_ parents?" said Harry, his temper rising. "Out there wearing masks, are they?" Malfoy turned his face to Harry, still smiling.

"Well... if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter? But you do know that your pal de la Mare's parents _are_ out there, right?"

"Well, as long as Elliot isn't taking part in it, that's pretty much expected, Malfoy," Maddy sighed. "Her family sucks, your family and you suck."

"How dare you speak ill of my family," Malfoy snarled. "My blood is far more pure than yours."

"Oh yeah, sure. But that doesn't matter. The fact that your a massive bigot is what matters!"

"Where _is_ Elliot?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yeah, where is she, Malfoy?" Bella hissed.

"Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you," Malfoy sneered.

Ron, Bella and Harry were about to have some sort of an outburst but before they could manage to get more than an angry syllable out Hermione said, "Oh come on," with a disgusted look at Malfoy, "let's go and find the others and _ignore Malfoy_."

"Keep that big bushy head down, Granger," sneered Malfoy.

"Come on," Hermione repeated, and she pulled Harry, Bella, Maddy and Ron up the path again.

"I'll bet you anything his dad is one of that masked lot!" said Ron hotly.

"Probably," Bella huffed.

"Well, with any luck, the Ministry will catch him!" said Hermione fervently.

"Ginny, Fred and George can't have gone _that_ far," said Ron, pulling out his wand, lighting it like Hermione's, and squinting up the path. Bella did the same and Harry dug into his pockets.

"Ah, no, I don't believe it... I've lost my wand!"

"You're kidding!"

Ron, Bella and Hermione raised their wands high enough to spread the narrow beams of light farther on the ground; Harry and Maddy looked all around for it, but the wand was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe it's back in the tent," said Ron.

"Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running?" Hermione suggested anxiously.

"I bet it'll show up," Bella said reassuringly.

"Yeah," said Harry, "maybe..."

A rustling noise nearby made all five of them jump. A house elf was fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby. She was moving in a most peculiar fashion, apparently with great difficulty; it was as though someone invisible were trying to hold her back.

"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked distractedly as she leaned forward and labored to keep running. "People high - high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!" And she disappeared into the trees on the other side of the path, panting and squeaking as she fought the force that was restraining her.

"What's up with her?" said Ron, looking curiously after Winky. "Why can't she run properly?"

"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide," said Harry.

"You know, house-elves get a _very_ raw deal!" said Hermione indignantly. "It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone _do_ something about it?"

"Well, the elves are happy, aren't they?" Ron said. "You heard old Winky back at the match... 'House-elves is not supposed to have fun...' that's what she likes, being bossed around..."

"That's what everyone said about the slaves," Bella interjected.

"Don't you have house elves?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but we treat them kindly, listen to them and take their feelings into consideration. I think we tried to give them Christmas off once and they startled balling their eyes out though..."

"It's people like _you_ , Ron," Hermione began hotly, "who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to-"

Another loud bang echoed from the edge of the wood.

"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" said Ron hurriedly.

They passed a lot of people and eventually arrived in a rather secluded place near the heart of the woods.

"I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off." The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Ludo Bagman emerged from behind a tree right ahead of them.

Maddy could see that a great change had come over Bagman. He no longer looked buoyant and rosy-faced; there was no more spring in his step. He looked very white and strained.

"Who's that?" he said, blinking down at them, trying to make out their faces. "What are you doing in here, all alone?" They looked at one another, surprised.

"Well, there's a sort of riot going on," said Ron.

Bagman stared at him. "What?"

"At the campsite..." Bella said. "Some people got a family of muggles... and are, well, _rioting_."

Bagman swore loudly. "Damn them!" he said, looking quite distracted, and without another word, he Disapparated with a small _pop_!

"Not exactly on top of things, Mr Bagman, is he?" said Hermione, frowning.

"He was a great Beater, though," said Ron, leading the way off the path into a small clearing, and sitting down on a patch of dry grass at the foot of a tree. "The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them."

"I hope the others are okay," said Hermione after a while.

"They'll be fine," said Ron.

"Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy," said Harry, sitting down next to Ron.

"That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, all right," said Ron. "He's always said he'd like to get something on him."

"Those poor Muggles, though," said Hermione nervously. "What if they can't get them down?"

"They will," said Ron reassuringly. "They'll find a way."

"I wonder if my dad's actually going to be able to do anything?" Bella wondered.

"Oh yeah, where is he?" Maddy asked.

"Helping out, duh."

"What does he do?" Hermione asked.

"Muggle Liaison Office."

"It's rather mad to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight!" said Hermione, reverting back to original topic. "I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just-"

But she broke off abruptly and looked over her shoulder. Harry, Ron, Maddy and Bella looked quickly around too. It sounded as though someone was staggering toward their clearing. They waited, listening to the sounds of the uneven steps behind the dark trees. But the footsteps came to a sudden halt.

"Hello?" called Harry.

"Shut up," Maddy hissed.

There was silence, then, without warning, the silence was ripped open by a voice unlike any they had heard in the wood; and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell.

" _MORSMORDRE!_ "

And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the direction of voice and it flew up over the treetops and into the sky. It was a gigantic skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As they watched, it rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation.

"Oh, balls," Bella muttered.

"What the-?" gasped Ron as he sprang to his feet again, staring up at the skull-snake.

"The Hades is that?" Maddy asked.

The woods all around them was suddenly filled with screams.

"We've got to move!" Hermione exclaimed in a panicked tone.

"Yeah, we _really_ need to," Bella said. "Gods, I hope El's okay."

"What's the matter?" Harry asked sounding startled.

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, pulling him as hard as she could. "You-Know-Who's sign!"

"Voldemort's-?"

"Harry, come on!"

"If you don't move now I am leaving all of you!" Maddy exclaimed in a threatening tone, she didn't know _exactly_ what was so terrifying about the mark but she figured that going far away was the best plan. Infact, she was about to take a step away when there was a series of popping noises announced the arrival of twenty wizards, appearing from thin air, surrounding them.

Almost instantaneously Harry yelled, "DUCK!" and they all dropped to the ground just as twenty or so voices roared, " _STUPEFY_!" and there was a blinding series of red flashes that Maddy could feel shooting through her curly hair.

"Stop!" Someone yelled. "Stop! That's my son!" Maddy chanced a glance upwards just before the spells stopped to see Mr Weasley, soon followed by a panting Mr Nevra.

"Don't touch my daughter!" He exclaimed through laboured breaths. "Ow, stitch," he grabbed his side. "Nevermind that. If you harm any of these children I will fight. Oh god. Pain."

"Are you all alright?" Mr Weasley asked the kids while Mr Nevra glared at the attackers -who were apparently Ministry officials- with a very weird expression that was more ridiculous than intimidating like it was probably supposed to be.

"Out of the way, Arthur, Linus," said a cold, curt voice. It was Mr Crouch, whose face was taut with rage. He and the other Ministry wizards were closing in on them. Harry, Maddy, Ron, Hermione and Bella got to their feet.

"Which of you did it?" he snapped, his sharp eyes darting between them. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"We didn't do that!" said Harry, gesturing up at the skull.

"We didn't do anything!" said Ron, who was rubbing his elbow and looking indignantly at his father.

"We are but simple bystanders!" Bella exclaimed defensively, holding her hands up in surrender.

"What did you want to attack us for?" Ron asked.

"Do not lie!" shouted Mr Crouch, aiming his wand at Ron as his eyes practically popped out of his skull, making him look more than a little mad. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Barty," whispered a witch in a long woolen dressing gown, "they're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to-"

"Where did the Mark come from, you five?" said Mr Weasley quickly.

"Over there," said Hermione shakily, pointing at the place where they had heard the voice. "There was someone behind the trees...they shouted words, an incantation-"

"And it was definitely a guy's voice," Maddy added. "Also British so it wasn't any of the foreign visitors."

"He sounded a bit like the tenth Doctor in Doctor Who..." Bella said and everyone looked over at her, unsure of what she was talking about.

Maddy had, of course, heard of the show before but had never seen it so she couldn't refute or back this up. And why was Bella familiar with a muggle tv show enough to say that someone who shouted one thing sounded like a character in it?

"Maybe it was-" Bella started.

"It wasn't David Tennant," Hermione replied. "But the voice did come for over there," she added to Mr Crouch, pointing in the direction.

"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr Crouch, turning his popping eyes on Hermione now, disbelief etched all over his face. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy-"

"Isn't that how pretty much everything works... here...?" Maddy asked quietly.

Mr Crouch was the only one who seemed to doubt the five of them, but everyone else had their wands trained in the direction Hermione had specified.

"We're too late," said the witch in the woolen dressing gown, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated."

"I don't think so," said a wizard with a scrubby brown beard. "Our Stunners went right through those trees... There's a good chance we got them..."

"Amos, be careful!" said a few of the wizards warningly as the man squared his shoulders, raised his wand, marched across the clearing, and disappeared into the darkness.

A few seconds later, they heard the man shout. "Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's - but - blimey..."

"Five galleons on something nonhuman," Bella whispered to Maddy.

"You're on," she replied.

"You've got someone?" shouted Mr Crouch, sounding highly disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?"

There was a snapping of twigs, many leaves rustling the crunching of footsteps before the man emerged from the trees with a small figure in his arms that Maddy soon recognized as Winky, the house elf.

Mr Crouch had gone surprisingly pale and the man gently placed Winky on the ground.

The other Ministry wizards were all staring at Mr Crouch. For a few seconds Crouch remained transfixed, his eyes blazing in his white face as he stared down at Winky. Then he appeared to come to life again.

"This - cannot - be," he said jerkily. "No-"

He moved quickly around the other man and strode off toward the place where he had found Winky.

"No point, Mr Crouch," he called after him. "There's no one else there."

"What's up with him?" Bella asked quietly.

"Winky's his house elf," Ron replied.

"Ooooooooh."

"Bella," Mr Nevra said and she stopped.

"Bit embarrassing," the man said grimly, looking down at Winky's unconscious form. "Barty Crouch's house-elf... I mean to say..."

"Come off it, Amos," said Mr Weasley quietly, "you don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."

"Yeah," he replied, "and she _had_ a wand."

" _What?_ " said Mr Weasley.

"Here, look," he held up a wand and showed it to Mr Weasley. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. _No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand_."

Just then there was another _pop_ , and Ludo Bagman apparated right next to Mr Weasley. Looking breathless and disorientated, he spun on the spot, goggling upward at the emerald-green skull.

"The Dark Mark!" he panted, almost trampling Winky as he turned inquiringly to his colleagues. "Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?" Mr Crouch had returned empty-handed. His face was still ghostly white, and his hands and his toothbrush mustache were both twitching. "Where have you been, Barty?" said Bagman. "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat too - gulping gargoyles!" Bagman had just noticed Winky lying at his feet. "What happened to her?"

"I have been busy, Ludo," said Mr Crouch, still talking in the same jerky fashion, barely moving his lips. "And my elf has been stunned."

"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why-?" Comprehension dawned suddenly on Bagman's round, shiny face; he looked up at the skull, down at Winky, and then at Mr Crouch. "No!" he said. "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!"

"And she had one," said the man who had retrieved her. "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's alright with you, Mr Crouch, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself."

Crouch gave no sign that he had heard him, but he seemed to take his silence for assent. He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky, and said, " _Rennervate_!"

Winky stirred feebly. Her great brown eyes opened and she blinked several times in a bemused sort of way. Watched by the silent wizards, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position. She caught sight of the man's feet, and slowly, tremulously, raised her eyes to stare up into his face; then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky.

She gave a gasp, looked wildly around the crowded clearing, and burst into terrified sobs.

"Elf !" said the sternly. "Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" Winky began to rock backward and forward on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts. "As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago and you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"

"I-I-I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped. "I is not knowing how, sir!"

"You were found with a wand in your hand!" he barked, brandishing it in front of her.

"Hey, that's mine!" Harry exclaimed.

Everyone in the clearing looked at him.

"Excuse me?" said the many, incredulously.

"That's my wand!" said Harry. "I dropped it!"

"You dropped it?" he repeated in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"Amos, think who you're talking to!" said Mr Weasley, very angrily. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

"Er, of course not," he mumbled. "Sorry... carried away..."

"I didn't drop it there, anyway," said Harry, jerking his thumb toward the trees beneath the skull. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."

"So," said the man, his eyes hardening as he turned to look at Winky again, cowering at his feet. "You found this wand, eh, elf ? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"

"I is not doing magic with it, sir!" squealed Winky, tears streaming down the sides of her squashed and bulbous nose. "I is... I is... I is just picking it up, sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, sir, I is not knowing how!"

"It wasn't her!" said Hermione angrily. While sounding furious she looked very nervous, speaking up in front of all these Ministry wizards, yet determined all the same. "Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper! Maddy said so earlier!"

"It definitely didn't sound like an elf," Harry added.

"Yeah, it was a human voice," said Ron.

"And as I said," Bella started, "it sounded like David Tennant."

"Well, we'll soon see," growled Amos, looking unimpressed. "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?" Winky trembled and shook her head frantically, her ears flapping, as he raised his own wand again and placed it tip to tip with Harry's.

" _Prior Incantato_!" he roared. Hermione gasped, horrified, as a gigantic serpent tongued skull erupted from the point where the two wands met, but it was a mere shadow of the green skull high above them; it looked as though it were made of thick gray smoke: the ghost of a spell.

" _Deletrius_!" Amos shouted, and the smoky skull vanished in a wisp of smoke. "So," he said with a kind of savage triumph, looking down upon Winky, who was still shaking convulsively.

"I is not doing it!" she squealed, her eyes rolling in terror. "I is not, I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"

"You've been caught red-handed, elf!" Amos roared. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"

"Amos," said Mr Weasley loudly, "think about it... precious few wizards know how to do that spell... Where would she have learned it?"

"Perhaps Amos is suggesting," said Mr Crouch, cold anger in every syllable, "that I routinely teach my servants to conjure the Dark Mark?" There was a deeply unpleasant silence. Amos looked horrified.

"Mr Crouch... not... not at all..."

"You have now come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure that Mark!" barked Mr Crouch. "Harry Potter and myself! I suppose you are familiar with the boy's story, Amos?"

"Of course, everyone knows..." he muttered, looking highly discomforted.

"And I trust you remember the many proofs I have given, over a long career, that I despise and detest the Dark Arts and those who practice them?" Mr Crouch shouted, his eyes bulging again.

"Mr Crouch, I-I never suggested you had anything to do with it!" Amos muttered again, now reddening behind his scrubby brown beard.

"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory!" shouted Mr Crouch. "Where else would she have learned to conjure it?"

"She-she might've picked it up anywhere-"

"Precisely, Amos," said Mr Weasley. "She might have picked it up anywhere... Winky?" he said kindly, turning to the elf, but she flinched as though he too was shouting at her. "Where exactly did you find Harry's wand?"

Winky was twisting the hem of her tea towel so violently that it was fraying beneath her fingers. "I-I is finding it... finding it there, sir..." she whispered, "there... in the trees, sir..."

"You see, Amos?" said Mr Weasley. "Whoever conjured the Mark could have Disapparated right after they'd done it, leaving Harry's wand behind. A clever thing to do, not using their own wand, which could have betrayed them. And Winky here had the misfortune to come across the wand moments later and pick it up."

"But then, she'd have been only a few feet away from the real culprit!" said Mr Diggory impatiently. "Elf? Did you see anyone?"

Winky began to tremble worse than ever. Her giant eyes flickered from Mr Diggory, to Ludo Bagman, and onto Mr Crouch. Then she gulped and said, "I is seeing no one, sir... no one..."

"Amos," said Mr Crouch curtly, "I am fully aware that, in the ordinary course of events, you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I ask you, however, to allow me to deal with her."

Mr Diggory looked as though he didn't think much of this suggestion at all, but it was clear to Maddy that Mr Crouch was such an important member of the Ministry that he did not dare refuse him.

"You may rest assured that she will be punished," Mr Crouch added coldly. "M-m-master..." Winky stammered, looking up at Mr Crouch, her eyes brimming with tears. "M-m-master, p-p-please..."

Mr Crouch stared back, his face somehow sharpened, each line upon it more deeply etched. There was no pity in his gaze. "Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible," he said slowly. "I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. This means clothes."

"No!" shrieked Winky, prostrating herself at Mr Crouch's feet. "No, master! Not clothes, not clothes!"

It was pitiful to see the way Winky clutched at her tea towel as she sobbed over Mr Crouch's feet, it even made Maddy feel awful for her.

"But she was frightened!" Hermione burst out angrily, glaring at Mr Crouch. "Your elf's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!"

Mr Crouch took a step backward, freeing himself from contact with the elf, whom he was surveying as though she were something filthy and rotten that was contaminating his over-shined shoes. "I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me," he said coldly, looking over at Hermione. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and to her master's reputation." Winky was crying so hard that her sobs echoed around the clearing.

There was a very nasty silence, which was ended by Mr Weasley, who said quietly, "Well, I think I'll take my lot back to the tent, if nobody's got any objections. Amos, that wand's told us all it can,if Harry could have it back, please-" Mr Diggory handed Harry his wand and Harry pocketed it.

"Come on, you three," Mr Weasley said quietly to Harry, Ron and Hermione. But Hermione didn't seem to want to move; her eyes were still upon the sobbing elf. "Hermione!" Mr Weasley said, more urgently. She turned and followed Harry and Ron out of the clearing and off through the trees and Mr Nevra, lead Bella and Maddy out behind them.

"What's going to happen to Winky?" said Hermione, the moment they had left the clearing.

"I don't know," said Mr Weasley.

"The way they were treating her!" said Hermione furiously. "Mr Diggory, calling her 'elf ' all the time... and Mr Crouch! He knows she didn't do it and he's still going to sack her! He didn't care how frightened she'd been, or how upset she was, it was like she wasn't even human!"

"Well, she's not," said Ron.

"Way to be open minded, Ron," Bella said as Hermione rounded on him.

"That doesn't mean she hasn't got feelings, Ron," she exclaimed. "It's disgusting the way-"

"Hermione, I agree with you," said Mr Weasley quickly, beckoning her on, "but now is not the time to discuss elf rights. I want to get back to the tent as fast as we can. What happened to the others?"

"We lost them in the dark," said Ron. "Dad, why was everyone so uptight about that skull thing?"

"I'll explain everything back at the tent," said Mr Weasley tensely.

"Will you be telling us?" Bella asked her dad.

"Not right now," he sighed. "Too tired. We have to leave early tomorrow anyways to get to Diagon Alley for your school supplies."

When they reached the edge of the wood, their progress was impeded. A large crowd of frightened-looking witches and wizards was congregated there, and when they saw Mr Weasley and Mr Nevra coming toward them, many of them surged forward.

"What's going on in there?"

"Who conjured it?"

"No one was hurt, right, Linus?"

"As far as we know," Mr Nevra replied.

"Arthur, it's not _Him_?"

"Of course it's not Him," said Mr Weasley impatiently. "We don't know who it was; it looks like they Disapparated. Now excuse me, please, I want to get to bed."


	3. Mad Eye Moody

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Thanksgiving ;-; help

The next morning, before they got back to the Nevra Estate, Mr Nevra took Maddy and Bella to Diagon Alley, which was mostly empty but the two demigods ended up walking into things and people more often than normal since they were so exhausted.

"What are dress robes and why do we have to get them?" Maddy asked, staring at her supply list.

"Fancy robes," Bella answered with a yawn. "And yeah, dad, why do we have to get them? Do you know?"

"Yes, I do," he replied, "but you two have to wait to find out. It's a surprise!"

"I doubt it's a very good one if we have to get formal clothes," Maddy scrunched up her nose.

"Oh no, it's good."

"If you say so..."

They went to Madam Malkin's last, Bella had to get regular school robes then they both got their dress robes. Maddy's was pretty much just a black suit with a robe-like quality and a dark green tie. Bella's was a poofy, rainbow coloured dress with giant pockets that she decided to stuff confetti into. Maddy had no idea why but she knew the reason was either going to be very good or very bad.

Maddy and Bella didn't find Harry, Ron, Hermione or Elliot until after the Hogwarts Express had already left the station, unfortunately for Maddy they, along with Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom were all discussing Quidditch. Bella excitedly joined the conversation, but Elliot dragged Maddy and Hermione into a separate compartment so it would be less crowded and so they wouldn't have to listen to the droning on of endless Quidditch talk.

"I don't really see what makes dress robes any different than muggle suits and dresses," Maddy said at one point. "I mean, mine is basically just a suit with a long tail and Bella's is a dress."

"They're the same thing," Elliot replied. "It's just fancy wizard talk. It goes back a long time so we just call them dress robes out of habit or tradition or something."

By the time they all got off the train rain was pouring down, soaking everyone the second they stepped onto the ground.

"It hasn't rained this much since Zeus and Poseidon decided to go at each other's throats," Maddy huffed as thunder rumbled across the sky.

"Ugh, don't tell me there's going to be lightning too," Ron grumbled.

"No, that was because of me."

"I hate weather and your drama queen of an uncle," Elliot muttered. "Why's it got to rain so much!"

"Oh, I feel bad for the first years," Hermione said, looking over at the first years walking away with Hagrid as the five of them started to board their nice, dry carriage. "The lake'll probably overflow..."

"Blimey," said Ron once they had gotten into the castle, shaking his head and sending water everywhere, "I'm soak - _ARRGH_!"

A large, red, water-filled balloon had dropped from out of the ceiling onto Ron's head and exploded. Drenched and sputtering, Ron staggered sideways into Harry, just as a second water bomb dropped onto Bella who let out a short scream in alarm and began to furiously look around. Then another fell, narrowly missing Hermione and Maddy and sending splashes of water up on all of them. All around them people shrieked and started pushing one another in their efforts to get out of the line of fire.

"PEEVES!" yelled an angry voice. "Peeves, come down here at ONCE!"

Maddy looked up and saw a little man in a bell-covered hat and orange bow tie, his wide, malicious face contorted with concentration as he took aim again.

Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor House, had come dashing out of the Great Hall; she skidded on the wet floor and grabbed Hermione around the neck to stop herself from falling.

"Ouch - sorry, Miss Granger-"

"That's all right, Professor!" Hermione gasped, massaging her throat.

"Peeves, get down here NOW!" barked Professor McGonagall, straightening her pointed hat and glaring upward through her square-rimmed spectacles.

"Not doing nothing!" cackled Peeves, lobbing a water bomb at several fifth-year girls, who screamed and dived into the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts! Wheeeeeeeeee!" And he aimed another bomb at a group of second years who had just arrived.

"I shall call the headmaster!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "I'm warning you, Peeves-"

Peeves stuck out his tongue, threw the last of his water bombs into the air, and zoomed off up the marble staircase, cackling insanely.

"Well, move along, then!" said Professor McGonagall sharply to the bedraggled crowd. "Into the Great Hall, come on!"

Everyone, wet and uncomfortable, entered the Great Hall and sat at their designated tables.

"I hate rain," Maddy groaned as she wrung out her hair, which had been flattened by the rain and now that she was sitting was also laid on the ground. "Ow! Fuck!" She exclaimed as someone walked on her hair. She turned around and saw Malfoy smirking as he walked passed her. "I will murder." She said with a flat tone and with her eyes narrowed a she glared at the blond asshole.

"Understandable and I support it," Elliot said, "but have you considered cutting your hair?"

"Yes and I want to and it would also be convenient but it keeps on slipping my mind," she sighed.

"Speaking of other things that you need to work on-"

"Nothing was said about me needing to work on anything," Maddy exclaimed.

"-you need to get taller. You've been the same height for three years and I'm starting to feel like a giant."

"You _are_ a giant. Also, I can't make myself get taller you know that right? Also, you've seen my mom, she's also short. She is, in fact, shorter than I am."

"I choose to believe that you are simply being impertinent," Elliot said in a slightly pompous tone.

"Okay, sure. I'm just keeping myself from getting any taller because I'm being impertinent and want you to feel like the giant you are," Maddy rolled her eyes.

Soon after this, the first years entered, lead by Professor McGonagall. Then the usual process of the Sorting continued on after the hat sang its little song.

Afterwards, Professor Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was smiling around at the students, his arms opened wide in welcome. "I have only two words to say to you," he told them, his deep voice echoing around the Hall. " _Tuck in_."

Maddy could hear Harry and Ron yelled, "Here, here!" from across the hall as the tables filled up with food.

Maddy and Elliot piled their plates with food, along with the rest of the student body as conversations erupted from all over.

Once the last remnants of dessert disappeared Dumbledore stood up again and said, "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices.

"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

There were lots of loud, exclamations of disappointment and horror at this but Dumbledore went on, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy, but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open. A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swiveled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark grey hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table.

A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling.

The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was one of the strangest faces Maddy had ever seen, including all of the monsters that she had seen, which was saying something. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening.

One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye, and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.

"Kickass," Elliot whispered. "I like this man already."

The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words nobody could hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat on his right-hand side.

The stranger sat down, shook his mane of dark grey hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat. His normal eye was fixed upon the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the hall and the students.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore, Hagrid, who both put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly, and Elliot who was staying at Moody like he was saying sort of idol as she continued to weakly click. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.

"This'll be awesome!" Elliot exclaimed under her breath with a grin. "Mad-Eye Moody's basically a nutter. This year's going to be _so_ fun."

"What kind of a 'nutter?'" Maddy asked.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome from everyone that wasn't Elliot. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his traveling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it. As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches from the ground, and Maddy saw, below the table, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're _JOKING_!" said Fred Weasley loudly from the Gryffindor table.

The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. "I am not joking, Mr Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar..."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.

"Er, but maybe this is not the time... no..." said Dumbledore, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament... well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities, until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"This might just be me being a paranoid motherfucker," Maddy started, "but I have a _very_ bad feeling about this." But her anxiety did not seem to be shared by the majority of students in the Hall; many of them were whispering excitedly to one another, and

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued while Maddy wondered _why_ , "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find themself in mortal danger.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

"Hmm... possible money that I earned for myself and probable death or staying the same as I am now... no. Not going in," Elliot decided. "I can just steal from my parents if I want money that I earned for myself."

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age -that is to say, seventeen years or older- will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This-" Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, "-is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion. I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen."

"Oh thank the gods," Maddy sighed.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when they are selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

Dumbledore sat down again and turned to talk to Mad-Eye Moody. There was a great scraping and banging as all the students got to their feet and swarmed toward the double doors into the entrance hall.

"Ten thousand galleons that our friends at the Gryffindor table are talking about how to enter even though they're underaged," Elliot said.

"I'm not going against that, it's a definite," Maddy replied.

"Alright let's see..." Elliot said dragging her finger down her newly received timetable as she and Maddy walked from the Slytherin table where Snape gave them their schedules to the Gryffindor table with their friends. "Charms with the Ravenclaw, Muggle Studies... then double Divination and damn it I'm not with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs this year. Fun times, fun times."

"Double Divination this afternoon," Maddy could hear Harry groan as they reached earshot.

"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?" said Hermione briskly. "Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy."

"I agree with that first half," Maddy said, plopping down beside Harry.

"And I, with the second," Elliot added, sitting across from Hermione.

"Where did you two come from?" Ron asked, startled.

"Olympus, Ronald," Maddy replied with a roll of her eyes. "Where do you think?"

"Thank the gods," Bella said, looking at Hermione as she buttered up a piece of toast. "You're eating again!"

"Where you not eating before?" Maddy asked.

"I found out that our food was made out of the slave labour of house elves," she replied. "However, I have decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights."

"She means I told her that her not eating would do nothing," Bella interjected.

"That is not what happened."

"So you were hungry," Ron said.

Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his relatively small hellhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions.

"So I've said this a lot recently but, I don't like this already," Maddy said. "Whatever's in those crates has some weird ass mojo around it."

"I'm sure it's fine..." Harry said, looking a little unsure at his own words.

"Mornin'!" Hagrid said, grinning at Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella and Maddy. "Be'er wait fer the rest o' Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this. Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" said Ron.

Hagrid pointed down into the crates.

"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward.

Maddy peered in and saw that Blast-Ended Skrewts looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and it would be propelled forward several inches. All of this combined with the 'weird ass mojo' around them made Maddy instantly hate the Blast-Ended Skrewts more than most animals and even some monsters.

"Um, excuse me but what are these monstrosities?" Maddy asked, pointing at the creatures.

"They aren' monstrosities!" Hagrid exclaimed. "Besides they on'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" said a cold voice.

The rest of the Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words. As much as Maddy hated to agree with a slimy git, yes. Yes. Everything he said. A million times. Just yes. Hagrid looked stumped at the question.

"I mean, what do they do?" asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?"

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds' pause, then he said roughly, "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diffrent things, I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer. I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake, just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"You know, I think these things might actually be worse than the vast majority of monsters that I've face," Bella said, crouching over one of the boxes. She screeched as one of them emitted a sudden gust of fire which she just narrowly missed, but the edges of her bright red hair was smoking.

Maddy very reluctantly tried to lure a Blast-Ended Skrewt with handfuls of frog livers along with everyone else and she only did this because Hermione said she would give her five galleons if she did it. At the time she could think of nothing worse than trying to lure fire demon monsters of death to her.

" _Ouch_!" yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. "It got me!" Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. "Its end exploded!" said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," said Hagrid, nodding.

"Eurgh!" said Lavender Brown again. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid enthusiastically and Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box. "I reckon they're the males... The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies... I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Oh excuse you," Maddy exclaimed in alarm and dropped all the frog livers and jumped backwards. "This is _not_ worth five galleons."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," said Malfoy sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"

"Well, at least the skrewts are small," Ron said later as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later.

"They are now," said Hermione in an exasperated voice, "but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long."

"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?" said Ron, grinning slyly at her.

"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up," said Hermione. "As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all."

"Yes, exactly," Maddy agreed. "Except like from a safe distance. Far away."

"You're being really edgy today," Harry noted.

"Yeah, I have no clue why. They just make me feel on edge. That might just be my mood for today but yeah."

"Well, it's not just you," Bella said, looking back at the crates. "There's something off about them. Also, we should throw them into the ocean."

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Harry and Ron stared at her.

"Er, is this the new stand on elf rights?" said Ron. "You're going to make yourself puke instead?"

"No," said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. "I just want to get to the library."

"What?" said Ron in disbelief. "Hermione. it's the first day back! We haven't even got homework yet!"

Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days. Then she leapt to her feet, said, "See you at dinner!" and departed at high speed.

"Mental," Elliot shook her head.

"Ugh, Professor Babbling gave us _sooo_ much homework," Maddy groaned, having joined up with Harry, Ron, Bella and Elliot, who were all griping and groaning about their homework amount as well.

"Lots of homework?" said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. "Professor Vector didn't give us _any_ at all!"

"Well, bully for Professor Vector," said Ron moodily.

"Then _you_ can do my homework," Maddy snapped.

"As much as I hate homework..." Bella said. "It was definitely worth it."

"What happened?"

"Lavender found Uranus on her star chart and Ron asked, 'can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?'" She laughed.

" _Ronald_!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It was gold," Elliot added. "Pure, comedic gold."

They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Maddy, Harry, Ron, Bella, Hermione and Elliot turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.

"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!

"Further mistakes at the Ministry of Magic; It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Malfoy looked up.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer _Daily Prophet_ questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house, if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron..."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Harry -he, Bella and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy, "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Then you shouldn't have said anything about Ron's mom," Maddy pointed out.

"Be quiet, you undersized traitor," Malfoy hissed.

"Oh, I feel so offended!" Maddy dramatically placed her hand to her chest. "I've be emotionally scarred for life! You do realize that you are _terrible_ at insults, right? I mean you've had to have noticed that by now." She didn't wait for a response and turned away.

_BANG!_

Several people screamed and Maddy felt something white-hot graze the side of her face and then she heard a second loud _BANG_ , and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

She, as well as the others who had turned with her, turned back to face Malfoy and saw that the platinum blond prick was no longer there but in his place was a small, pure white ferret that looked terrified.

Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at the ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.

There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Maddy, at least, his normal eye was looking at her; the other one was pointing into the back of his head.

"Did he get you?" Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly.

"No..." Maddy said. "Was that what-?"

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted.

"Leave what?" She said, bewildered.

"Not you - him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. He started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again, it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..."

The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly.

"Never - do - that - again-!" said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher.

"My idol," Elliot whispered.

"What-what are you doing?" said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching," said Moody.

"Teach- Moody, is that a student?" shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Yep," said Moody.

"No!" cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing.

"Moody, we _never_ use Transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall weakly. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, "but I thought a good sharp shock-"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike.

Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words "my father" were distinguishable.

"Oh yeah?" said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well, I know your father of old, boy... You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son... you tell him that from me... Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," said Malfoy resentfully.

"Another old friend," growled Moody. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape... Come on, you..." And he seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons.

Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.

"Why not?" said Hermione in surprise.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret..."

They all laughed, and Hermione began doling beef casserole onto each of their plates.

"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though," she said. "It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it-"

"Hermione!" said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, "you're ruining the best moment of my life!"

"The best moment of everyone's life!" Bella exclaimed.

Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again.

"Don't tell me you're going back to the library this evening?" said Harry, watching her.

"Got to," said Hermione thickly. "Loads to do."

"But you told us Professor Vector-"

"It's not schoolwork," she said. Within five minutes, she hadvcleared her plate and departed.

"That has got to be some sort of magic..." Maddy said.

No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley.

"Moody!" he said. "How cool is he?"

"Beyond cool," said George, sitting down opposite Fred.

"Supercool," said the twins' best friend, Lee Jordan, sliding into the seat beside George. "We had him this afternoon," he told Maddy, Harry, Bella, Ron and Elliot.

"What was it like?" said Harry eagerly.

Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning.

"Never had a lesson like it," said Fred.

"He _knows_ , man," said Lee.

"Knows what?" said Ron, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there _doing it_ ," said George impressively.

"Doing what?" said Harry.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," said Fred.

"He's seen it all," said George.

"'Mazing," said Lee.

Ron dived into his bag for his schedule.

"We haven't got him till Thursday!" he said in a disappointed voice.

"It's the same for us," Elliot frowned. "But I have to agree already! You saw him turn Malfoy into a ferret, right?"

"Of course!" The twins chimed as Lee nodded.

"Bloody brilliant, that was!" Lee exclaimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so originally Maddy was also going to get turned into a ferret, I don't remember how, I just remember Maddy ferret. RIP Maddy ferret.


	4. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

Maddy and Elliot got to their Defence Against the Dark Arts class surprisingly early in order to get decent seats, along with their other friends. They sat in the second row behind Harry and Ron while Hermione and Bella had claimed the table beside the two boys.

They all took out their copies of _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self- Protection_ , and waited, unusually quiet. Soon they heard Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor, and he entered the room, looking as strange as ever. They could just see his clawed, wooden foot protruding from underneath his robes.

"You can put those away," he growled, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "those books. You won't need them."

They returned the books to their bags, all looking excited.

Moody took out a register, shook his long mane of grizzled grey hair out of his twisted and scarred face, and began to call out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list while his magical eye swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered.

"Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures, you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

There was a general murmur of assent.

"But you're behind, very behind, on dealing with curses," said Moody. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurted out.

Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at Ron; Ron looked extremely apprehensive, but after a moment Moody smiled and it somehow made his heavily scarred face look even more twisted, contorted and alarming than ever, but it was nevertheless good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. Ron looked deeply relieved.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago... Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore... One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

He gave a harsh laugh, and then clapped his gnarled hands together.

"So, straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you counter curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati something under the desk. Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head.

"So... do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's, Elliot's and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender.

"Er," said Ron tentatively, "my dad told me about one... Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," said Moody appreciatively. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. He reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, " _Imperio_!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.

Everyone was laughing, though Maddy thought it seemed to be rather demented and she wasn't alone in this thought, Bella and Moody weren't laughing either. Moody looked as stern as ever and Bella seemed to be thinking over something.

"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter died away almost instantly.

"Total control," said Moody quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats..."

Maddy could see Ron give an involuntary shudder.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," said Moody. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will.

"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped, Maddy slammed her face into her desk in order to calm herself down from her jumpiness.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" Hermione's and Elliot's hand flew into the air again and so did Neville's, which was honestly surprising. The only class in which Neville usually volunteered information was Herbology, which was easily his best subject. Neville looked surprised at his own daring.

"Yes?" said Moody, his magical eye rolling right over to fix on Neville.

"There's one, the Cruciatus Curse," said Neville in a small but distinct voice.

Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes.

"Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register again. Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Moody. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said, pointing his wand at the spider. " _Engorgio_!"

The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretense, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Moody's desk as possible, causing his chair to scrape against Maddy's table.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, " _Crucio_!"

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Maddy was sure that if it could have given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently. Maddy, and everyone else in the room, stared in horror at this.

"Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly.

Maddy looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and she, following her gaze, saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified.

Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch.

" _Reducio_ ," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar.

"Pain," said Moody softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse... That one was very popular once too.

"Right... anyone know any others?"

Elliot raised in her hand in the same lazy way she had the last two times but Hermione's hand shook slightly as, for the third time, she raised it into the air.

"Yes?" said Moody, looking at the latter.

" _Avada Kedavra_ ," Hermione whispered.

Several people looked uneasily around at her, including Ron.

"Ah," said Moody, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and worst. _Avada Kedavra_... the Killing Curse."

He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.

Moody raised his wand. " _Avada Kedavra_!" Moody roared and in a flash of blinding green light the spider just stopped, keeling over on its side and leaving the feeling of death festering around it.

Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Both of his eyes were trained on Harry.

" _Avada Kedavra_ 's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it, you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again and once again, Maddy's face slammed into the table.

"Now... those three curses - _Avada Kedavra_ , Imperius, and Cruciatus- are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills... copy this down..."

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang but when Moody had dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices, "Did you see it twitch?" "-and when he killed it, just like that!"

Ignoring all of this, Maddy, Bella and Hermione rushed forward to Neville, who looked numb and empty, standing farther down in the hall.

"Neville?" Bella asked gently.

"Oh hello," he said, his voice much higher than usual. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm-I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Neville, are you alright?" said Hermione.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville gabbled in the same unnaturally high voice. "Very interesting dinner, I mean lesson, what's for eating?"

"Neville, are you s-" Maddy was interrupted by the sound of Moody limping over to them.

All four of them fell silent, watching him apprehensively, but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard.

"It's all right, sonny," he said to Neville. "Why don't you come up to my office? Come on... we can have a cup of tea.."

Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke.

"Come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you." Neville looked pleadingly at Maddy, Bella and Hermione, but they didn't say anything, just give him some sympathetic looks, so Neville had no choice but to allow himself to be steered away, one of Moody's gnarled hands on his shoulder.

"What was that about?" said Ron, who had arrived with Harry and Elliot, watching Neville and Moody turn the corner.

"I don't know," said Hermione, looking pensive.

"Some lesson, though, eh?" said Ron to them as they set off for the Great Hall. "Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did _Avada Kedavra_ , the way that spider just died, just snuffed it right-"

" _Ron_!" Maddy exclaimed sharply with a glare and he fell silent.

* * *

Later that night they were all gathered in the library, sans Hermione who was also in the library but somewhere else. Maddy was working on her Study of Ancient Runes homework and helping the other four with their Divination homework, which quickly turned from "This is all bullshit," to "Let's make shit up!" which turned out to be _very_ fun.

"Hello," Hermione had just arrived with a box, "I've just finished!"

"So have I!" said Ron triumphantly, throwing down his quill.

Hermione sat down, laid the things she was carrying in an empty chair, and pulled Ron's predictions toward her.

"Not going to have a very good month, are you?" she said sardonically..

"Ah well, at least I'm forewarned," Ron yawned.

"You seem to be drowning twice," said Hermione.

"Oh am I?" said Ron, peering down at his predictions. "I'd better change one of them to getting trampled by a rampaging hippogriff."

"Don't you think it's a bit obvious you've made these up?" said Hermione.

"How dare you!" said Ron, in mock outrage. "We've been working like house-elves here!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"It's just an expression," said Ron hastily.

"What's in the box?" Elliot asked, nodding at it.

"Funny you should ask," said Hermione, with a nasty look at Ron. She took off the lid and showed them the contents. Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colors, but all bearing the same four letters, there was a P, a W, an S and an E but Maddy couldn't place the order they were written in.

"'Spew?'" said Harry, picking up a badge and looking at it. "What's this about?"

"Not _spew_ ," said Hermione impatiently. "It's S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Never heard of it," said Ron.

"Well, of course you haven't," said Hermione briskly, "I've only just started it."

"Yeah?" said Ron in mild surprise. "How many members have you got?"

"Well, if you all join, six," said Hermione.

"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges saying 'spew,' do you?" said Ron.

"S-P-E-W!" said Hermione hotly. "I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but it wouldn't fit. So that's the heading of our manifesto."

She brandished a sheaf of parchment at them.

"I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now."

"Hermione, open your ears," said Ron loudly. "They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!"

"Our short-term aims," said Hermione, speaking even more loudly than Ron, and acting as though she hadn't heard a word, "are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."

"Yes!" Bella exclaimed. "I'm down! Let's do it! However, first, you should really change the name. I know it's S. P. E. W. but everyone's going to say spew and that doesn't exactly sound great..."

"I've already told you, I tried-"

"But we can think of something different! Here, how about... erm..." Bella paused to think deeply. "R. F. E! Rights for Elves! Or we could do F. F. E. R. Fight for Elvish Rights, which could also just be F. E. R. or fer!"

"I guess those _are_ better..." Hermione sighed.

"How're we supposed to do all those things you just said?" Harry asked.

"We start by recruiting members," said Hermione happily. "I thought two Sickles to join, that buys a badge, and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. You're treasurer, Elliot, I've got you a collecting tin upstairs. Harry, you're secretary, so you might want to write down everything I'm saying now, as a record of our first meeting. Bella and Ron, you're both public relations and Maddy, you're the historian!"

They all gawked at Hermione, except Bella, who was grinning profusely.

"Fine," Elliot sighed. "I _do_ think Elves deserve more rights."

"Really? That's surprising," Ron noted.

"Is it? I thought it was obvious I was always on the side of people's rights. Yes, Ron, I consider House Elves people, I am using people as an umbrella term for anything that is sapient."

"What does that mean?" Maddy asked.

"Sapience is when a creature can think creatively and make decisions," Hermione replied. "Humans, house elves, giants, vampires, werewolves, they're all sapient."

Before conversation could continue, Harry's snowy owl, Hedwig, landed on the table in front of the black haired boy and while everyone payed attention to this, Elliot went back to working on her Divination predictions.

"About time!" Harry exclaimed, recieving a loud ' _shhhhh!_ ' from Madam Pince. "Sorry, Madam Pince," he said back as he took the letter off of the owl's leg.

"Who's it from?" Bella asked, standing up and looking over Harry's shoulder.

"Sirius," Harry whispered. "I owled him over the summer and he finally responded."

"What does it say?" Hermione wondered breathlessly.

Harry read it aloud:

" _Harry, I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore, they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is. I'll be in touch soon. My best to your friends. Keep your eyes open, Harry._

' _-Sirius_ "

"He's flying north?" Hermione asked with wide eyes. "He's coming _back_?"

"Excuse me, is there something with your scar you aren't telling us about?" Bella demanded.

"It's nothing, really," Harry said. "Just a dream... I was overreacting. It's nothing."

"Harry, dreams come true _so often_ , it's ridiculous," Maddy exclaimed, "not to mention you pretty much just have demigod dreams and, you know, those are legitimate predictions of the future."

"Dumbledore's reading what signs?" said Ron, looking perplexed. "Harry — what's up?"

Harry had just hit himself in the forehead with his fist, jolting Hedwig out of his lap.

"I shouldn't've told him!" Harry said furiously.

"What are you on about?" said Ron in surprise.

"It's made him think he's got to come back!" said Harry, now slamming his fist on the table so that Hedwig landed on the back of Ron's chair, hooting indignantly. "Coming back, because he thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me! And I haven't got anything for you," Harry snapped at Hedwig, who was clicking her beak expectantly, "you'll have to go up to the Owlery if you want food."

Hedwig gave him an extremely offended look and took off for the open window, cuffing him around the head with her outstretched wing as she went.

"Chill, man," Bella said.

"Harry," Hermione began, in a pacifying sort of voice.

"I'm going to bed," said Harry shortly. "See you in the morning." And he collected his things and briskly stormed out of the library.

"Well, I'm done with my homework now," Elliot suddenly said after a moment of silence as she stood up and packed up. "I'll be off! Hermione, change those buttons! Go with F. E. R."

* * *

To everyone's surprise, Professor Moody had announced that he would be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them in turn, to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.

"But-but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Hermione uncertainly as Moody cleared away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room. "You said to use it against another human was-"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swiveling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way -when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely- fine by me. You're excused. Off you go." He pointed one gnarled finger toward the door.

Hermione went very pink and muttered something about not meaning that she wanted to leave.

Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperius Curse upon them. One by one, Maddy's classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Malfoy somehow managed to _climb up the wall_. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.

"Nevra," Moody said. "You next."

Bella skipped into the space that Moody had cleared in the centre of the room and stood, ready to face the Imperius Curse _head on!_ Which just so happened to be the way that she had phrased it herself upon hearing what they would be doing.

Moody pointed his wand at the bouncy redhead and said, " _Imperio!_ "

Almost instantly, Bella collapsed into a seemingly deep sleep, complete with loud snoring and drool.

"Mender, move her out of the way," Moody commanded. "You're up."

Maddy stood up, grabbed Bella under her arms and pulled her out of the way before she stood in the middle of the room, nervous and curious. She didn't really want to do this, though. Like, at all. She was actually hoping to just get passing out and drooling all over herself.

" _Imperio!_ " Moody said, his wand pointed at Maddy.

She heard the voice of Moody in her head saying, _Lean back_. She tried to resist but ended up leaning what she thought was as far as she could go, which was fairly far back, but then she leaned _all_ the way back.

_Put your hands on the ground._

Maddy placed her hands on the ground.

_Flip over._

Maddy almost effortlessly brought her legs up into the hair and the slammed them onto the ground on her other side so she was bending forwards instead of backwards.

Moody then released her from the curse and she got a sudden headrush, along with a bad backache and a bit of a wobble in her legs. She quickly sat back down as Harry was called up.

Harry had his knees bent like he was about to jump but there was a long pause and when he finally did spring into the air he slammed into the desk.

"Now, that's more like it!" growled Moody. "Look at that, you lot... Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention, watch his eyes, that's where you see it, very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you!"

"The way he talks," Harry muttered as he hobbled out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class an hour later, "you'd think we were all going to be attacked any second."

"Well..." Maddy said slowly, with Bella hoisted up on her back, still snoring away.

"You haven't been attacked at all at Hogwarts!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Talk about paranoid..." Ron glanced nervously over his shoulder to check that Moody was definitely out of earshot and went on. "No wonder they were glad to get rid of him at the Ministry. Did you hear him telling Seamus what he did to that witch who shouted 'Boo' behind him on April Fools' Day? And when are we supposed to read up on resisting the Imperius Curse with everything else we've got to do?"

All the fourth years had noticed a definite increase in the amount of work they were required to do this term. Professor McGonagall explained why, when the class gave a particularly loud groan at the amount of Transfiguration homework she had assigned.

"You are now entering a most important phase of your magical education!" she told them, her eyes glinting dangerously behind her square spectacles. "Your Ordinary Wizarding Levels are drawing closer-"

"We don't take O.W.L.s till fifth year!" said Dean Thomas indignantly.

"Maybe not, Thomas, but believe me, you need all the preparation you can get! Miss Granger and Miss de la Mare remain the only people in this class who has managed to turn a hedgehog into a satisfactory pincushion. I might remind you that your pincushion, Thomas, still curls up in fright if anyone approaches it with a pin!"

Professor Binns, the ghost who taught History of Magic, had them writing weekly essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century. Professor Snape was forcing them to research antidotes. They took this one seriously, as he had hinted that he might be poisoning one of them before Christmas to see if their antidote worked. Professor Flitwick had asked them to read three extra books in preparation for their lesson on Summoning Charms. Even Hagrid was adding to their workload. The Blast-Ended Skrewts were growing at a remarkable pace given that nobody had yet discovered what they ate. Hagrid was delighted, and as part of their 'project,' suggested that they come down to his hut on alternate evenings to observe the skrewts and make notes on their extraordinary behavior.

"I will not," said Draco Malfoy flatly when Hagrid had proposed this with the air of Father Christmas pulling an extra-large toy out of his sack. "I see enough of these foul things during lessons, thanks." Hagrid's smile faded off his face.

"Yeh'll do wha' yer told," he growled, "or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book... I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy."

Almost everyone burst into laughter while Malfoy turned a violent shade of fuschia.

Maddy, personally, was pleased with this assignment because her attempts at killing off her Skrewt had been futile because she only ever saw them while Hagrid was looking over her so she had to try to kill it very discreetly. She was contemplating fire next.

When they arrived in the entrance hall, they found themselves unable to proceed owing to the large crowd of students congregated there, all milling around a large sign that had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase. Elliot, the tallest of the six, stood on tiptoe to see over the heads in front of them and read the sign aloud to the other five:

_TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT_

_The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early-_

"Brilliant!" said Harry. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"

_Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast._

"Only a week away!" said Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming. "I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him..."

"Cedric?" said Ron blankly as Ernie hurried off.

"Diggory," said Harry. "He must be entering the tournament."

"That idiot, Hogwarts champion?" said Ron as they pushed their way through the chattering crowd toward the staircase.

"He's not an idiot. You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch," said Hermione. "I've heard he's a really good student, and he's a prefect." She spoke as though this settled the matter.

"You only like him because he's handsome," said Ron scathingly.

"Excuse me, I don't like people just because they're handsome!" said Hermione indignantly.

Ron gave a loud false cough, which sounded oddly like " _Lockhart!_ "

"No, Ron, she also likes him because he follows the rules," Bella said.

"That is not true, Bella!" Hermione exclaimed.

"He's a Prefect," the redhead wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Hermione groaned.

The appearance of the sign in the entrance hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, there seemed to be only one topic of conversation, no matter where Maddy went: the Triwizard Tournament. Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs: who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves.

Maddy noticed too that the castle seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning. Several grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat huddled in their frames muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces. The suits of armor were suddenly gleaming and moving without squeaking, and Argus Filch, the caretaker, was behaving so ferociously to any students who forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of first-year girls into hysterics. Other members of the staff seemed oddly tense too.

"Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can't even perform a simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!" Professor McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson, during which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a cactus.

When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter H.

Maddy and Elliot joined Harry, Ron, Bella and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. They were sitting with Fred and George, who were surprisingly isolated from the other Gryffindors.

Harry had just gotten an owl from Sirius telling him to keep him posted on everything going on in Hogwarts and to change owls to attract less attention.

There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air that day. Nobody was very  
attentive in lessons, and both Maddy and Bella's ADHD was acting up and causing them to fight relentlessly and during History of Magic they both had to jump up and run around more than once. Everyone was much more interested in the arrival that evening of the  
people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; even Potions was more bearable than usual, as it was half an hour shorter. When the bell rang early, everyone hurriedly ran to their dormitories, deposited their bags and books as they  
had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back on the ground floor and into the entrance hall.

The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into a big line in order by both year and house. Maddy and Elliot managed to be at the front of the Slytherin portion of the fourth year part and the other four were at the back of the Gryffindor section.

"Weasley, straighten your hat," Professor McGonagall snapped at Ron. "Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair." Parvati Patil scowled and removed a large ornamental butterfly from the end of her plait.

"Follow me, please," said Professor McGonagall. "First years in front... no pushing..."

They filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, transparent-looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest.

"Nearly six," said Ron, checking his watch and then staring down the drive that led to the front gates. "How d'you reckon they're coming? The train?"

"I doubt it," said Hermione.

"How, then? Broomsticks?" Harry suggested, looking up at the starry sky.

"I don't think so... not from that far away..."

"And when it's this cold!" Bella exclaimed, shivering under her fur-lined cloak. "The only good time to fly at this temperature is when playing Quidditch."

"It's not the _that_ cold," Maddy rolled her eyes.

"Yes it is, Maddy!"

"Maybe a Portkey?" Ron suggested. "Or they could Apparate, maybe you're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?"

"You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, how often do I have to tell you?" said Hermione impatiently.

"I bet it's going to be really showy," Elliot said. "Wizards show off, it's what we do."

They scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving; everything was still, silent, and quiet as usual. Maddy was bored and she and Bella ended up playing rock, paper, scissors in order to distract themselves.

And then Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other teachers, "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.

"There!" yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

"Don't be stupid... it's a flying house!" said Dennis Creevey, Colin Creevey's little brother.

Dennis's guess was closer. As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed, then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a Slytherin fifth year's foot, the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.

A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then Maddy saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage -a shoe the size of a child's sled- followed, almost immediately, by the largest woman she had ever seen in his life.

The size of the carriage, and of the horses, was immediately explained. A few people gasped.

"It's a lady Hagrid!" Bella exclaimed quietly. "But fancy..."

As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face; large, black, liquid-looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.

Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.

Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.

"My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dor," said Madame Maxime in a deep voice. "I hope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.

"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.

Maddy then noticed that about a dozen boys and girls, all, by the look of them, in their late teens, had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. From what Maddy could see of them (they were standing in Madame Maxime's enormous shadow), they were staring up at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces.

"Has Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He should be here any moment," said Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But the horses-"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other, er, charges."

"Skrewts," Ron muttered.

"My steeds require, er, forceful handling," said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could be up to the job. "They are very strong..."

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," said Dumbledore, smiling.

"Very well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform this Hagrid that the horses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.

"Come," said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

"How big d'you reckon Durmstrang's horses are going to be?" Seamus Finnigan said, leaning around Lavender and Parvati to address Harry and Ron.

"I doubt Durmstrang will also have horses," Elliot interjected.

They stood, shivering slightly now, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive. Most people were gazing hopefully up at the sky. For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by Madame Maxime's huge horses snorting and stamping. But then, "Can you hear something?" said Ron suddenly. Maddy listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed.

"The lake!" yelled Lee Jordan, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!"

From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water, except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks - and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor.

What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool.

"It's a mast!" Harry exclaimed.

Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.

People were disembarking; they could see their silhouettes passing the lights in the ship's portholes.

"Okay, but _that_ 's a _lake_ ," Maddy said. "How would they sail from the ocean to a lake in the middle of Scotland?"

"It's magic, Mads," Bella said as she stood on her toes to get a better look at the students.

They were all wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. But the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied. Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice; when he stepped into the light pouring from the front doors of the castle they saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (finishing in a small curl) did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook hands with both of his own.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow. "How good it is to be here, how good... Viktor, come along, into the warmth... you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Maddy caught a glimpse of a prominent curved nose and thick black eyebrows.

"It's Krum!" Ron exclaimed as Bella danced around with her fingers in her mouth, muffling her shrieks of joy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I had to upload this on my phone so I haven't been able to edit this chapter ;-;   
> Enjoy!

"I don't believe it!" Ron said for the thousandth time, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts students filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang. "Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!"

"For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player," said Hermione.

"Only a Quidditch player?" Ron said, looking at her as though he couldn't believe his ears. "Hermione - he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!"

“For heaven's sake, Bella, will you stop!” Hermione exclaimed as Bella wordlessly danced around.

As they crossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, Maddy saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked.

"Oh I don't believe it, I haven't got a single quill on me-"

"D'you think he'd sign my hat in lipstick?"

"Really," Hermione said loftily as they passed the girls, now squabbling over the lipstick.

"I'm getting his autograph if I can," said Ron. "You haven't got a quill, have you, Harry?"

"Nope, they're upstairs in my bag," said Harry.

Maddy and Elliot split off from the Gryffindors as Bella somehow managed to pretty much collapsed onto Hermione while still jumping around.

Almost as soon as they sat down the students from Durmstrang started to sit the Slytherin table as well, having finally decided where to sit.

A small group of them sat beside Maddy and Elliot but neither looked up to see who they were.

When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons, who were sitting at the Ravenclaw table, leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing, and a silence fell over the Great Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and -most particularly- guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," said Dumbledore. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

The plates in front of them filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than Maddy had ever seen, including several that were most certainly foreign.

After the desserts had come out, the Bulgarian sitting beside Maddy said, “Excuse me, can you pass the tikvenik?”

“The what?” She asked as she looked up, finding herself face to face with Victor Krum, well more like face to chest since, even sitting down, he was so much taller than the daughter of Hades. She had a moment of whoa that’s a famous person and then didn't make any sort of a deal about this situation. She honestly didn't care that much.

Krum pointed to a strange type of pastry and Maddy handed it over then went back to chatting with Elliot like nothing had happened.

“Why are Bagman and Crouch here?” Maddy asked only a few moments after that as the two Ministry officials sat in the two empty seats next to Madam Maxime.

“Well, they organized the tournament,” Elliot said through a mouthful of some French dessert. “They're probably also acting as the impartial judges since it's obvious that the headmaster's are going to unfairly judge their champion, which is just bullshit because they’ll also be biased towards Hogwarts.”

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now.

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-"

“Like the type that holds dead bodies?” Maddy asked.

“I wish,” Elliot snorted.

"-just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation-” there was a spattering of polite applause “-and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced. Remembering him in his neat suit at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry thought he looked strange in wizard's robes. His toothbrush mustache and severe parting looked very odd next to Dumbledore's long white hair and beard.

"Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

At the mention of the word ‘champions,’ the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... their  
magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue flames.

Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, they are obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

Maddy and Elliot quickly found the Gryffindors and the first thing Elliot said to Ron and Bella was, “Maddy spoke to Victor Krum, ha!”

“I'm going to speak to him too!” Bella exclaimed. “He'll be here the whole year and I'll be damned if I don't get to say just a simple ‘hi’ to that man!”

Ron, however, was standing as high up as he could and was searching the crowd. “Where is he? Dumbledore didn't say where the Durmstrang people are sleeping, did he?"

But this query was answered almost instantly; they were close to the Slytherin table again, and Karkaroff had just bustled up to his students.

"Back to the ship, then," he was saying. "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"

Maddy saw Krum shake his head as he pulled his furs back on.

“Professor, I would like some wine," said one of the other Durmstrang boys hopefully.

"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," snapped Karkaroff, his warmly paternal air vanishing in an instant. "I notice you have dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, disgusting boy-"

Karkaroff turned and led his students toward the doors, reaching them at exactly the same moment as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella, Elliot and Maddy. Harry stopped to let him walk through first.

"Thank you," said Karkaroff carelessly, glancing at him. And then he froze. He turned his head back to Harry and stared at him as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt too. Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar.

The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw comprehension dawn on a few of their faces. The boy with food all down his front nudged the girl next to him and pointed openly at Harry's forehead.

Bella and Elliot were laughing and ducked behind the other four in order not to be seen by the Durmstrang headmaster while laughing at him.

"Yeah, that's Harry Potter," said a growling voice from behind them.Professor Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at the Durmstrang  
headmaster.

The color drained from Karkaroff's face. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him.

"You!" he said, staring at Moody as though unsure he was really seeing him.

"Me," said Moody grimly. "And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway."

It was true; half the students in the Hall were now waiting behind them, looking over one another's shoulders to see what was causing the holdup.

Without another word, Professor Karkaroff swept his students away with him.

Moody watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense dislike upon his mutilated face.

* * *

 

“Ugh, Maddy, get up,” Elliot whined, poking her housemate in the face. “It's noon and Harry somehow managed to get his owl down here. It murdered my face.”

“I'm up,” Maddy said, her face in her pillow. “I just like to have my face in this fluffy pillow!”

“Get up and go to lunch with me or I'll sic Hedwig on you.”

“Fine, fine,” Maddy sat up, didn't bother to get dressed or make sure her hair was in place and shuffled out of her dormitory and then out of the common room with bare feet. “The floor's cold.”

“It's the dungeon and it's October,” Elliot said. “Of course it's cold!”

“... Shut up Elliot.”

Upon entering the Great Hall, Maddy and Elliot walked over to the Gryffindor table and when they sat down Maddy's head immediately slammed into the table.

“Er, Maddy?” Harry asked.

“Shut up, I'm dying,” she groaned. “Why does lunch have to be so early?”

“Why are you two so tired?” Hermione asked.

“Everyone was annoying last night,” Elliot grumbled. “Why are all the other Slytherins always so awake no matter when they go to sleep!”

“They're robots!” Bella exclaimed.

“They're what?” Ron asked.

“It's a muggle thing,” Harry said.

“I don't know what these robots are,” Elliot said, “but can one of them please come and crush my skull? I have such a bad headache.”

“Well it depends,” Hermione said. “Computers are robots but they dont kill unless you use one to launch a missile, then there are warfare robots that mostly exist in sci-fi and also cleaning robots like roombas. The ones that crush skulls really only exist in fiction though...” Everyone stared at her. “What? I can know all about the wizarding world but not a simple aspect of the muggle world like technology?”

“Well none of us are saying that but it's kind of surprising,” Bella said.

“So I learn everything I know because I have no life,” Elliot began, “but you do have one and we're pretty much on the same level. How?”

“I manage my time well,” she shrugged.

“Oh, you two missed something great this morning!” Ron suddenly exclaimed.

“What?” Maddy asked through a yawn.

“Fred and George tried to get over the age line and they got these huge white beards, just like Dumbledore’s!”

“That is amazing...” Elliot said.

That night, Maddy decided that she officially didn't care and this was shown by here sitting at the Gryffindor table during the Halloween feast, still in her pajamas.

“Maddy, why?” Ron asked.

“Because I can,” she replied.

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Perhaps because it was their second feast in two days. At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.

“Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision,” said Dumbledore. “I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions’ names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber-”he indicated the door behind the staff table “-where they will be receiving their first instructions.” He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness.

The Goblet of Fire, now placed in front of Dumbledore, shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting. A few people kept checking their watches.

“Any second,” Lee Jordan whispered, three seats away from Maddy.

The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it and the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm’s length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white.

“The champion for Durmstrang,” he read, in a strong, clear voice, “will be Viktor Krum.”

“No surprises there!” yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall, Bella whistled loudly.

Maddy saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

“Bravo, Viktor!” boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. “Knew you had it in you!”

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone’s attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

“The champion for Beauxbatons,” said Dumbledore, “is Fleur Delacour!”

“It’s her, Ron!” Harry shouted as a girl gracefully got to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

“Oh look, they’re all disappointed,” Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party.

“Disappointed? More like homicidal!” Bella exclaimed. And sure enough, all of the Beauxbatons students either looked incredibly angry or had burst into hysterical tears.

When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion was next. And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment. “The Hogwarts champion,” he called, “is...” there was a long beat of silence as Dumbledore stared at the slip of paper, then he finally said, “Madeline Mender.”

There was no applause. A buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the Hall; some students were standing up to get a better look at Maddy, who was shaking profusely.

“I didn't hear that right, right? I wasn't just called up, right?” She asked shakily. “I didn't put my name... I couldn't’ve been called...”

“Madeline Mender!” Dumbledore called again, this time louder. “Maddy, up here, if you please!”

“Go on,” Hermione said, nudging Maddy a bit.

“What if I hid under the table instead.” Maddy began to sink down in her seat but Hermione nudged her again, and she stumbled up the walkway between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. It felt like an immensely long walk and the top table didn't seem to be getting any nearer at all, and she could feel hundreds and hundreds of eyes upon her as though each was a searchlight. The buzzing grew louder and louder. After what seemed like an hour, she was right in front of Dumbledore, feeling the stares of all the teachers upon her.

"Well... through the door, Maddy," said Dumbledore. He wasn't smiling.

Maddy moved off along the teachers' table. Hagrid was seated right at the end. He did not wink at Maddy, or wave, or give any of his usual signs of greeting. He looked completely astonished and stared at her as she passed like everyone else.

Maddy went through the door out of the Great Hall and found herself in a smaller room, lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A handsome fire was roaring in the fireplace opposite her.

The faces in the portraits turned to look at her as she entered.

Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour were grouped around the fire. They looked strangely impressive, silhouetted against the flames. Krum, hunched-up and brooding, was leaning against the mantelpiece, slightly apart from the other two. Fleur Delacour looked around when Maddy walked in and threw back her sheet of long, silvery hair.

"What is it?" she said. “Where is the Hogwarts champion.”

“That would be me...” Maddy said awkwardly, suddenly very aware of the fact that, unlike everyone else, she was wearing green, plaid pajama bottoms and a black sweatshirt.

“But you are just a little girl!”

“Yeah, but I don't even want this!” She exclaimed. “I was actually looking forward to just being a spectator for once!”

That was when the door opened and Harry, looking stunned, entered.

“Do they want us back in the Great Hall?” Fleur asked.

Harry didn't seem to know how to respond.

There was a sound of scurrying feet in the hallway, and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took Harry by the arm and led him forward.

"Extraordinary!" he muttered, squeezing Harry's arm. "Absolutely extraordinary! Ladies, gentlemen..." he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the three of them. "May I introduce -incredible though it may seem- the fourth Triwizard champion?"

There was a pause and then Maddy began to laugh. Her anxiety and fear had swelled up and the combined feelings of relief from not having to suffer alone and of course Harry was the fourth champion in a three wizard tournament.

“I'm sorry,” she forced herself to stop. “I'm just freaking out...”

While this was happening Viktor Krum straightened up. His surly face darkened as he surveyed Harry and Fleur Delacour tossed her hair, smiling, and said, "Oh, very funny joke, Mister Bagman. Especially the second time."

"Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire! As did Miss Mender's.”

Krum's thick eyebrows contracted slightly. Fleur frowned.

"But evidently there has been a mistake," she said contemptuously to Bagman. "They cannot compete. They are both too young."

"Well... it is amazing," said Bagman, rubbing his smooth chin and smiling down at Harry. "But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as their names’ have come out of the goblet... I mean, I don't think there can be any ducking out at this stage... It's down in the rules, you're obliged... Harry and Maddy will just have to do the best they-"

The door behind them opened again, and a large group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape.

"Madame Maxime!" said Fleur at once, striding over to her headmistress. "They are saying that these little kids are to compete also!"

Madame Maxime had drawn herself up to her full, and considerable, height. The top of her handsome head brushed the candle-filled chandelier, and her gigantic black-satin bosom swelled.

"What is the meaning of this, Dumbly-dorr?" she said imperiously.

“I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," said Professor Karkaroff. He was wearing a steely smile, and his blue eyes were like chips of ice. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions or have I not read the rules carefully enough?" He gave a short and nasty laugh.

"C'est impossible," said Madame Maxime, whose enormous hand with its many superb opals was resting upon Fleur's shoulder. "Hogwarts cannot have two champions. It is most unjust."

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger  
contestants, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, his steely smile still in place, though his eyes were colder than ever. "Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

"It's no one's fault but Potter's and Mender's, Karkaroff," said Snape softly. His black eyes were alight with malice. "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for their determination to break rules. They have both been crossing lines ever since he arrived here-"

“Neither of us want to be here!” Maddy exclaimed. “I didn't put my name in and Harry didn't either!”

“An unlikely story,” Snape sneered. Maddy bristled in agitation.

"Thank you, Severus," said Dumbledore firmly, and Snape went quiet, though his eyes still glinted malevolently through his curtain of greasy black hair. Professor Dumbledore was now looking down at Harry and Maddy.

"Did either of you put your names into the Goblet of Fire?" he asked calmly.

"No," said Harry.

“Of course not!” Maddy exclaimed.

Snape made a soft noise of impatient disbelief in the shadows.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" said  
Professor Dumbledore, ignoring Snape.

"No," said Harry vehemently.

“Why would I!” Maddy said through gritted teeth.

"Ah, but of course they are lying!" cried Madame Maxime. Snape was now shaking his head, his lip curling.

"They could not have crossed the Age Line," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "I am sure we are all agreed on that-"

"Dumbly-dorr must have made a mistake with the line," said Madame Maxime, shrugging.

"It is possible, of course," said Dumbledore politely.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" said Professor McGonagall angrily. "Really, what nonsense! Neither of them could have crossed the line on their own, and as Professor Dumbledore believes that they did not persuade any older students to do it for them, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else!"

She shot a very angry look at Professor Snape.

"Mr Crouch... Mr Bagman," said Karkaroff, his voice unctuous once more, "you are our, er, objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"

Bagman wiped his round, boyish face with his handkerchief and looked at Mr  
Crouch, who was standing outside the circle of the firelight, his face half hidden in shadow. He looked slightly eerie, the half darkness making him look much older, giving him an almost skull-like appearance. When he spoke, however, it was in his usual curt voice.

"We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

"Well, Barty knows the rule book back to front," said Bagman, beaming and turning back to Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, as though the matter was now closed.

"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," said Karkaroff. He had dropped his unctuous tone and his smile now. His face wore a very ugly look indeed. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, it doesn't work like that," said Bagman. "The Goblet of Fire's just gone out - it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament -"

"- in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" exploded Karkaroff. "After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave now!"

"Empty threat, Karkaroff," growled a voice from near the door. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete. Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"

Moody had just entered the room. He limped toward the fire, and with every right step he took, there was a loud clunk.

"Convenient?" said Karkaroff. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."  
Harry could tell he was trying to sound disdainful, as though what Moody was  
saying was barely worth his notice, but his hands gave him away; they had balled  
themselves into fists.

"Don't you?" said Moody quietly. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing he'd have to compete if it came out."

"Evidently, someone who wished to give Hogwarts two bites at the apple!" said Madame Maxime.

"I quite agree, Madame Maxime," said Karkaroff, bowing to her. "I shall be lodging complaints with the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards -"

"If anyone's got reason to complain, it's Potter," growled Moody, "but...funny thing... I don't hear him saying a word...”

"Why should he complain?" burst out Fleur Delacour, stamping her foot. "He has the chance to compete, hasn't he? We have all been hoping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! The honour for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money - this is a chance many would die for!"

"Maybe someone's hoping Potter is going to die for it," said Moody, with the  
merest trace of a growl.

An extremely tense silence followed these words. Ludo Bagman, who was looking very anxious indeed, bounced nervously up and down on his feet and said, "Moody, old man. . . what a thing to say!"

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't  
discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," said Karkaroff loudly. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd  
quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons.

"Imagining things, am I?" growled Moody. "Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put the boy's name in that goblet...”

"Ah, what evidence is there of that?" said Madame Maxime, throwing up her huge hands.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" said Moody. "It  
would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that  
goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament... I'm  
guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category..."

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," said Karkaroff coldly, "and a very ingenious theory it is - though of course, I heard you recently  
got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly  
disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously..."

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage," Moody  
retorted in a menacing voice. "It's my job to think the way Dark wizards do,  
Karkaroff - as you ought to remember...”

"Alastor!" said Dumbledore warningly. Moody fell silent, though still surveying Karkaroff with satisfaction - Karkaroff's face was burning. "How this situation arose, we do not know," said Dumbledore, speaking to everyone gathered in the room. "It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Both Maddy and Harry have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. This, therefore, they will do...”

"Ah, but Dumbly-dorr-"

"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it."

Dumbledore waited, but Madame Maxime did not speak, she merely glared. She wasn't the only one either. Snape looked furious; Karkaroff livid; Bagman,  
however, looked rather excited.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" he said, rubbing his hands together and smiling around the room. "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?"

Mr Crouch seemed to come out of a deep reverie. "Yes," he said, "instructions. Yes... the first task..."

He moved forward into the firelight. Close up, Harry thought he looked ill. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes and a thin, papery look about his wrinkled skin that had not been there at the Quidditch World Cup. "The first task is designed to test your daring," he told Harry, Maddy, Fleur, and Viktor, "so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the  
unknown is an important quality in a wizard... very important.

"The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."

Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore. "I think that's all, is it, Albus?"

"I think so," said Dumbledore, who was looking at Mr. Crouch with mild concern.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, Barty?"

"No, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry," said Mr. Crouch. "It is a very busy, very difficult time at the moment... I've left young Weatherby in charge... Very enthusiastic... a little overenthusiastic, if truth be told...”

"You'll come and have a drink before you go, at least?" said Dumbledore.

"Come on, Barty, I'm staying!" said Bagman brightly. "It's all happening at  
Hogwarts now, you know, much more exciting here than at the office!"

"I think not, Ludo," said Crouch with a touch of his old impatience.

"Professor Karkaroff - Madame Maxime - a nightcap?" said Dumbledore.  
But Madame Maxime had already put her arm around Fleur's shoulders and was  
leading her swiftly out of the room. Harry could hear them both talking very fast  
in French as they went off into the Great Hall. Karkaroff beckoned to Krum, and  
they, too, exited, though in silence.

“Professor,” Maddy started, “is there any way to be disqualified or something? Like maybe by breaking a rule or...”

“No, there is not, Miss Mender,” Dumbledore replied.

“Oh.”

"Harry, Maddy, I suggest you go up to bed," said Dumbledore, smiling at both of them. "I am sure Gryffindor and Slytherin are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

Harry glanced at Maddy, who nodded, and they left together.

The Great Hall was deserted now; the candles had burned low, giving the jagged smiles of the pumpkins an eerie, flickering quality.

“I don't know why I'm surprised,” Maddy huffed. “Stuff like this always happens to us. My money's on we got our names put in the goblet by someone who wants to harvest our organs and bathe in our viscera.”

“I doubt that that is the exact reason,” Harry said.

“Whatever,” Maddy sighed as they went through the large doors. “See ya!” She shouted as she turned in the opposite direction of Harry.


	6. Why Does Wand Weight Matter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, I swear Maddy got chosen for champion for a reason. THERE'S A REASON.
> 
> Also, I don't have to to edit this chapter so yeah please excuse any mistakes...

The next day Maddy found that the only people that believes her about not putting her name in the goblet of fire were Elliot, Hermione and Harry. The Slytherins constantly praised her, even the ones who hated her, while the rest of the population of Hogwarts despised her while Harry was almost in the reverse situation. He had the same people who believed him, plus Maddy, of course, but the school's opinion on him was the opposite of their stance on Maddy.

The Slytherins had made badges that said ' _Support_ _Maddy Mender, the real Hogwarts champion_ ,' that switched to _'Potter stinks'_ and in retaliation a few of the Gryffindors had made badges that changed from ' _Harry Potter: The Real Champion!'_ and ' _Mender blows!_ ' that they were selling to everyone.

This, she all found out just on the trek to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Want to go for a walk?"

Maddy yelped in alarm as Hermione suddenly popped up in front of her and Elliot, she was holding out some food and Harry was standing behind her.

"Uh... I guess? Why?" Maddy asked.

"To talk," she replied.

"You guys have fun with that," Elliot said and walked into the Great Hall.

They were soon striding across the lawn toward the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning, and they kept moving, munching their toast, as Harry and Maddy told Hermione exactly what had happened after they had left the Great Hall the night before. To their immense relief, Hermione accepted both of their stories without question.

"Well, of course I knew you neither of you hadn't entered yourselves," she said when they had finished telling her about the scene in the chamber off the Hall. "The look on your faces when Dumbledore read out your names! And I know that Maddy wouldn't have worn her pajamas if she had known that she would have to go up in front of the entire school. She was clearly embarrassed."

"That is pretty much how Elliot explained her trust in me," Maddy interjected quietly.

"But the question is," Hermione continued, "who did put it in? Because Moody's right... I don't think any student could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's-"

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry interrupted.

Hermione hesitated.

"Erm... yes... he was at breakfast," she said.

"Does he still think I entered myself?"

"Well... no, I don't think so.. not really," said Hermione awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, ' _not really_ '?"

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's _jealous_!"

"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously. "Jealous of _what_? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Look," said Hermione patiently, "it's always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault," she added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it... but, well, you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous, he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many..."

"I was like that just a few years ago," Maddy said. "I really wanted a quest because they seemed like kickass fun but then I got invited to go on one and just... nope. Not fun. Painful. Bad. And Ron won't realize that it isn't all shits and giggles for you until he experiences something like the type of things you go through."

"Exactly."

"Great," said Harry bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from me I'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it... People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go..."

"I'm not telling him anything," Hermione said shortly. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this out."

"Fine then, you tell him, Maddy."

"Dude, he won't listen to me, I'm in the same boat as you, man. You talk to Ron for yourself, stop being a two year old. You see, us five year olds, know that if he doesn't believe or respect you he was never a true friend."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe I'm not enjoying myself once I've got my neck broken or-"

"That's not funny," said Hermione quietly. "That's not funny at all." She looked extremely anxious. "Harry, I've been thinking, you know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the-"

" _Write to Sirius_. You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts... It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill out with me-"

"Come off it," said Harry, looking around to check that they couldn't be overheard, but the grounds were quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if I tell him someone's entered me in the Triwizard Tournament-"

"He'd want you to tell him," said Hermione sternly. "He's going to find out anyway-"

"How?"

"Harry, this isn't going to be kept quiet," said Hermione, very seriously. "This tournament's famous, and you're famous. I'll be really surprised if there isn't anything in the Daily Prophet about you competing... You're already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know... and Sirius would rather hear it from you, I know he would."

"Okay, okay, I'll write to him," said Harry, throwing his last piece of toast into the lake. They both stood and watched it floating there for a moment, before a large tentacle rose out of the water and scooped it beneath the surface. Then they returned to the castle, Maddy split off from them and entered the Great Hall, where she tried to get Ron to believe in her, at least.

* * *

The next day, predictably, Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin for Care of Magical Creatures with his familiar sneer firmly in place and his badge was on the _Potter Stinks_ image.

"Ah, look, boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment he got within earshot of Harry. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer... Half the Triwizard champions have died... how long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet."

Crabbe and Goyle guffawed sycophantically, but Malfoy had to stop there, because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin balancing a teetering tower of crates, each containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the class's horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain that the reason the skrewts had been killing one another was an excess of pent-up energy, and that the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this plan was that it distracted Malfoy completely.

"Take this _thing_ for a _walk_?" he repeated in disgust, staring into one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we supposed to fix the leash? Around the sting, the blasting end, or the sucker?"

"Roun' the middle," said Hagrid, demonstrating. "Er, yeh might want ter put on yer dragon-hide gloves, jus' as an extra precaution, like. Harry, Maddy, you two come here an' help me with this extra big one..."

Hagrid's real intention, however, was to talk to the both of them away from the rest of the class. He waited until everyone else had set off with their skrewts, then turned to them and said, very seriously, "So, yer both competin' in the tournament. School champions."

"Yeah, it's awful," Maddy grumbled.

Hagrid's beetle-black eyes looked very anxious under his wild eyebrows.

"No idea who put yeh two in fer it.?"

"You believe we didn't do it, then?" said Harry.

"'Course I do," Hagrid grunted. "Yeh say it wasn' you, an' I believe yeh an' Dumbledore believes yer, an' all."

"Wish I knew who did do it," said Harry bitterly.

"I'm sure we'll know eventually," Maddy sighed. "It happened for a reason... Unless we both die before we figure it out, which wouldn't be all the surprising."

"Don' say tha', Maddy," Hagrid said sternly.

Harry and Maddy were about to take their own skrewts for walks -Maddy personally had a plan to try lighting hers on fire- when there was a sudden explosion of shrieks. The three of them turned in the direction of them and Maddy was horrified to see the biggest hellhound she had ever seen. This thing was bigger than Hagrid's hut.

"Oh Hades, this is just the year of extra bad luck isn't it," Maddy groaned. She was about to go to the hellhound, but then a punky looking girl shot out of the forest with a spear. She leaped onto the hellhound and, with a quick stab, sent her weapon through it's back and it disintegrated into golden dust and the girl fell to the ground. But she didn't fall onto her back, instead she gracefully landed on her feet.

The girl looked up as she collapsed her spear and Maddy then recognized her.

"Thalia?" She asked.

The girl looked alarmed and then said, "Maddy?"

"Oh shit, Thalia! It's so good to see you again! It's been like four years!"

"What're you doing here?"

"It's my school."

"This is a school?" Thalia looked around and spotted the quickly retreating students and the castle. "You go to school in a medieval castle? In Scotland?"

"Maddy?" Hermione and Bella had cautiously approached her, Harry and Hagrid, the last two who were very confused. "Who's this?"

"An old friend, well, cousin I guess," Maddy replied and Thalia sent her a look that said _explain that later._

"Hagrid, I'm just going to go into the Forbidden Forest, okay!" Maddy yelled as she grabbed Thalia's arm and ran in the direction of the woods.

"Maddy, ye can't-" Hagrid was saying but Maddy was then out of range to hear what he said after that.

"'Cousin?'" Thalia questioned.

"Yep, I got claimed, actually before you left but it didn't really come out until afterwards," Maddy explained. "Oh, my dad's Hades. I just realized that my explanation before hand didn't actually answer your question. Anyways, what're your doing here?"

"Wow, _another_ child of the Big Three," Thalia sighed. "The Hunters and I are here because we tracked some dragons over here, we haven't seen them yet but we know that they're here."

"It's weird that no one's noticed any yet..."

"Yeah, we just got here but we really should have come across them by now... Have there been any monsters around?"

"Not that I know of," Maddy said. "I haven't actually seen any the one time I went into the forest, but that might have been because I was with a hellhound, a very small and wimpy one, but I guess it was enough to keep them away. This places seems like it'd be just crawling with monsters."

"You aren't wrong. I've actually already face _a lot_ of them and I've only been in here for about two hours."

"Yeah, that's weird. There was a drakon here two years ago but it was placed here like forever ago so that doesn't count, other than that I have found absolutely nothing."

Maddy and Thalia spent the rest of the time the daughter of Hades had before her next class, catching up in the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Double Potions was always terrible, but the next one that Maddy had turned out to be especially terrible. After lunch, she, Harry, Elliot, Hermione, Ron and Bella turned up to the dungeon class, Malfoy and his gang was standing outside and chuckling under their breath.

"Oh god, what now?" Harry groaned. He had been having an especially bad week.

"Oh, Potter," Malfoy sneered, "I didn't see you there... maybe it was because of those ugly badges you're all sporting," he gestured to the badges that Hermione had made for her house elf helping group, which she had renamed Society for Elvish Welfare, a.k.a. SEW, which was somehow exponentially better than SPEW.

"How creative, Malfoy," Bella rolled her eyes. "Your insults just get better and better by the year!"

"When will mudbloods le-" but he was cut off by a strong punch from Bella.

"Thanks, Bella," Hermione said, "but you didn't really have to do that. I don't really mind too much."

Bella was about to say something but malfoy was back on his feet with a blood nose and maliciously aiming his wand at her. "How _dare_ you," he sneered. "You blood traitor!"

"Oh, the creativity in you today is just too much!" She exclaimed, taking out her wand as well. "Where do you come up with this _amazing_ material!" Malfoy was about to retort but then, "Oh no! Not more scathing insults! I'm still so severely wounded from the last one!"

" _Densaugeo_!" Malfoy shouted.

" _Ducklifors_!" Bella shouted directly after.

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles, Bella's hit Goyle and Malfoy's hit Hermione.

"Hermione!" Harry, Ron and Bella ran over to her while Maddy and Elliot just stared at Goyle. Or, where Goyle had been because he had been turned into a big, fat duck.

"Amazing," Maddy whispered.

"The best," Elliot added.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, Hermione's two, already rather large, front teeth were growing incredibly fast and had just reached the collar of her shirt.

"And what is all this noise about?" said a soft, deadly voice.

Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamored to give their explanations; Snape pointed a long finger at Malfoy and said, "Explain."

"Nevra attacked me, sir-"

"You attacked me first!" Bella shouted.

"-and she hit Goyle, look." He pointed at the duck Goyle, who was sitting on the ground and looking around in a very confused way. It was the only thing Maddy had ever seen him do other than trollishly laugh when Malfoy's gang was laughing.

"Crabbe, take him to the hospital wing," Snape ordered.

"Malfoy hit Hermione!" Ron yelled. " _Look!_ " He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth, she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down to her chest. Pansy Parkinson and several other of the Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, "I see no difference." Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight.

It was lucky that Harry, Ron, Bella and Maddy started shouting at Snape at the same time; lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him. He got the gist, however.

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin each and a detention each for Potter, Weasley, Mender and Nevra. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

Snape swooped into his classroom like a bat and everyone began to file in after him.

"I think that might have been the only time he's ever taken points from Slytherin," Ron said.

"I bet he didn't want to seem biased," Elliot replied. "Even though everyone already knows he is, he doesn't want to make it any more obvious than it already is."

"Probably," Maddy shrugged.

"Antidotes!" said Snape halfway through the class, looking around at them all, his cold black eyes glittering unpleasantly. "You should all have prepared your recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one..." Snape's eyes were on Harry. Snape was going to poison him. Maddy was positive that, out of all of the things Snape had done, that poisoning his students was probably the least allowed.

Then there was a knock on the dungeon door. It was Colin Creevey; he edged into the room, beaming at Harry, and walked up to Snape's desk at the front of the room.

"Yes?" said Snape curtly.

"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Harry Potter and Madeline Mender upstairs." Snape stared down his hooked nose at Colin, whose smile faded from his eager face.

"Potter and Mender have another hour of Potions to complete," said Snape coldly. "They will come upstairs when this class is finished."

Colin went pink. "Sir - sir, Mr Bagman wants them," he said nervously. "All the champions have got to go, I think they want to take photographs..."

"Very well, _very well_ ," Snape snapped. "Potter, Mender, leave your things here, I want you both back down here later to test your antidotes."

"Please, sir, they've got to take their things with them," squeaked Colin. "All the champions-"

" _Very well_!" said Snape. "Potter, Mender - take your bags and get out of my sight!"

Harry and Maddy picked up their bags and walked out of the classroom, combinations of both _POTTER STINKS_ and _MENDER BLOWS_ were being angled at them as they went.

Maddy, personally, was very glad to be gone, even if she wasn't the one who was going to be poisoned, the aroma of all the incorrectly brewed potions was murder on all of her sense, especially the ones that had ended up actually being poison.

"It's amazing, isn't it, Harry?" said Colin, starting to speak the moment Harry had closed the dungeon door behind him. "Isn't it, though? You being champion?"

"Yeah, really amazing," said Harry heavily as they set off toward the steps into the entrance hall.

"Not a nightmare at all," Maddy added under her breath.

"What do they want photos for, Colin?"

"The Daily Prophet, I think!" He replied happily.

"Great," said Harry dully. "Exactly what I need. More publicity."

"How fun!" maddy exclaimed sarcastically.

"Good luck!" said Colin when they had reached the right room. Harry knocked on the door and entered with Maddy.

They were in a fairly small classroom; most of the desks had been pushed away to the back of the room, leaving a large space in the middle; three of them, however, had been placed end-to-end in front of the blackboard and covered with a long length of velvet. Five chairs had been set behind the velvet-covered desks, and Ludo Bagman was sitting in one of them, talking to a witch Maddy had never seen before, who was wearing vibrant, magenta robes. Viktor Krum was standing moodily in a corner as usual and not talking to anybody. Fleur looked a good deal happier than Maddy had seen her so far. A paunchy man, holding a large black camera that was smoking slightly, was watching Fleur out of the corner of his eye. Bagman suddenly spotted Harry and Maddy, got up quickly, and bounded forward.

"Ah, here they are! Champions number three and four! In you come, Harry, Miss Mender, in you come... nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment-"

"Wand weighing?" Harry repeated nervously.

"How does the weight of our wands matter?" Maddy asked.

"Oh, no it's not literally weighing your wands, we have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," said Bagman. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he added, gesturing toward the witch in magenta robes. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet..."

"Maybe not that small, Ludo," said Rita Skeeter, her eyes on Harry.

Her hair was set in elaborate and curiously rigid curls that contrasted oddly with her heavy-jawed face. She wore jeweled spectacles. The thick fingers clutching her crocodile-skin handbag ended in two-inch nails, painted crimson. She didn't know why, but Maddy got some weird vibes from her.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry before we start?" she said to Bagman, but still gazing fixedly at Harry. "The youngest champion, you know... to add a bit of colour?"

"Certainly!" cried Bagman. "That is if Harry has no objection?"

"Er..." said Harry uncertainly.

"Lovely," said Rita Skeeter, and in a second, her scarlet-taloned fingers had Harry's upper arm in a surprisingly strong grip, and she was steering him out of the room again.

"Well then, Miss Mender, why don't you join the other champions over here!" Mr Bagman said lightly.

"Uh, okay," she said a little awkwardly. "Should I put my bag down or..."

"Yes, yes, go ahead. Anywhere's fine."

Maddy dropped her bag on the ground by the door an walked over to Krum and Fleur, not engaging at all with them, just standing as the other schools' headmasters came in, along with Mr Crouch. At least, at first that's how it was.

About five minutes into the very boring situation, someone tapped on Maddy's shoulder. She looked around and saw Fleur.

"Ah, excuse me," she said, "but I just wanted to apologize. You don't seem like you really wanted to be the Hogwarts champion."

"It's fine, I guess," Maddy replied. "And thanks for apologizing. Almost everyone else thinks I wanted to risk my life. _Again_."

"Then they are clearly blind, both you and Harry Potter are clearly miserable with the situation."

"Yeah, thanks, Fleur."

A few minutes later, Harry and Rita Skeeter reentered the room with Professor Dumbledore. Harry sat down beside Maddy, who sat beside Fleur while Dumbledore joined the other judges. Rita Skeeter settled herself down in a corner; Maddy saw her slip a piece of parchment out of her bag, spread it on her knee, suck the end of an acid green quill, and place it on the parchment.

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" said Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

Maddy looked around and was surprised to Mr Ollivander standing in the far corner, how had she not noticed him before?

"Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first, please?" said Mr Ollivander, stepping into the empty space in the middle of the room. Fleur Delacour swept over to Mr. Ollivander and handed him her wand.

"Hmmm..." he said as he twirled the wand between his long fingers like a baton and it emitted a number of pink and gold sparks. Then he held it close to his eyes and examined it carefully. "Yes," he said quietly, "nine and a half inches... inflexible... rosewood... and containing... dear me..."

"An hair from the head of a veela," said Fleur. "One of my grandmother's."

"Yes," said Mr Ollivander, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands... however, to each his own, and if this suits you..."

Mr Ollivander ran his fingers along the wand, apparently checking for scratches or bumps; then he muttered, " _Orchideous_!" and a bunch of flowers burst from the wand tip. "Very well, very well, it's in fine working order," he said, scooping up the flowers and handing them to Fleur with her wand. "Mr. Krum, you next."

"Hmm," said Mr. Ollivander, "this is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand maker, though the styling is never quite what I... however..." He lifted the wand and examined it minutely, turning it over and over before his eyes. "Yes... hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he shot at Krum, who nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees... quite rigid... ten and a quarter inches... _Avis_!" The hornbeam wand let off a blast like a gun, and a number of small, twittering birds flew out of the end and through the open window into the watery sunlight. He handed the wand back and said, "Miss Mender, if you please."

Maddy got up and handed over her wand.

"Ah yes, I remember selling you this wand as if it was yesterday," mr Ollivander nodded.

"It was the last day of winter break last year," Maddy pointed out.

"Quite right, quite right... aspen... unicorn hair... very flexible... 10⅓ inches." He waved the wand and several smoke rings flew out and spread around the room before dissipating. "Seems to be in excellent condition." He handed Maddy back her wand.

"Which leaves... Mr Potter." Harry got to his feet and walked past Krum to Mr. Ollivander. He handed over his wand. "Aaaah, yes," said Mr Ollivander, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."

Mr Ollivander spent much longer examining Harry's wand than anyone else's. Eventually, however, he made a fountain of wine shoot out of it, and handed it back to Harry, announcing that it was still in perfect condition.

"Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now, or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end."

"Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" cried Bagman excitedly just as everyone began to stand. "All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"

"Er, yes, let's do those first," said Rita Skeeter, whose eyes were upon Harry again. "And then perhaps some individual shots."

The photographs took a long time. Madame Maxime cast everyone else into shadow wherever she stood, and the photographer couldn't stand far enough back to get her into the frame; eventually she had to sit while everyone else stood around her. Karkaroff kept twirling his goatee around his finger to give it an extra curl; Krum, whom Maddy would have thought would have been used to this sort of thing, skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. The photographer seemed keenest to get Fleur at the front, but Rita Skeeter kept hurrying forward and dragging Harry into greater prominence and Maddy was impossible to place because, while if she stood behind Harry her face was hidden but if she was in front of him, her hair would block him. Fun time. Eventually, however, she just got placed in the back with Krum, which she was fine with. Then Rita Skeeter insisted on separate shots of all the champions. At last, they were free to go.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked as he and Maddy sat down with Bella and Elliot.

"Still in the hospital wing," Bella replied. "I just got back from seeing her and Madam Pomphrey said that she shouldn't be out until mid way through next period."

"I wish Goyle had stayed a duck longer..." Elliot said. "He came back like the minute you two left, although he was still waddling around which was entertaining."

* * *

Harry would apparently be talking to Sirius through the floo network in Gryffindor tower two weeks after the Weighing of the Wands and this seemed, to Maddy, to be the only thing that was keeping him going. Things were getting increasingly worse for him, and while things weren't exactly great for Maddy either she had always been good at ignoring things and Harry, honestly, had it much worse.

Rita Skeeter had published her article on the Triwizard Champions, which was really just about Harry, with Fleur and Krum thrown in at the end and Maddy wasn't mentioned at all, which she didn't mind too much. She just thought it was an incredibly rude thing to do, but she was much more concerned with the lies about Harry that she had printed.

Not only had she made up ridiculously long, blatantly fake statements that she claimed Harry had said, such as " _I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now... Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it... I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me..._ " but she had also interviewed other people.

_Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school._

"So, Colin knows that Bella, Elliot and I also spend all our time with you too, right?" Maddy asked.

"Apparently not," Harry sighed.

"Well, Elliot has friends outside of our group, you spend a lot of time in the Slytherin common room too and I have a life," Bella said. "And by 'a life' I mean I like to run around."

While Harry had been increasingly annoying and Bella increasingly protective and violent, Hermione had taken up the firm stance of 'ignore it.'

Along with the article in the _Daily Prophet_ , Ron was still distant with Harry and Maddy. Harry, Hermione and Bella were getting frustrated about this, but Maddy and Elliot were sure that he would _eventually_ realize that neither of them were having fun and that at least one of them would rather stick a red hot poker in her remaining eye than participate.

The five of them -well four, really, since Elliot was gone a _lot_ \- were in the library most of the time, Bella was helping Maddy find spells that could be useful with the mystery tasks while Hermione worked with Harry on the summoning charm, which he was having an unnaturally hard time with.

Viktor Krum was in the library an awful lot too, and Maddy wondered what he was up to. Was he studying, or was he looking for things to help him through the first task? Hermione often complained about Krum being there, not that he ever bothered them, but because groups of giggling girls often turned up to spy on him from behind bookshelves, and Hermione found the noise distracting.

"He's not even good-looking!" she muttered angrily, glaring at Krum's sharp profile. "They only like him because he's famous! They wouldn't look twice at him if he couldn't do that Wonky Faint thing-"

"Wronski Feint," Harry managed to correct before Bella had a complete fit about this, causing her to be kicked out of the library for the rest of the day.

Whenever she wasn't in the library, Maddy would in the woods with Thalia and some of the Hunters of Artemis, sometimes Artemis is well, to look for the dragons. She had no clue how such amazing trackers were unable to find such huge creatures.

"Alright, Thalia," Maddy said after one of these times. "You are coming to the Great Hall with me for lunch."

"Why?" She asked.

"I'm hungry, you're hungry, almost everyone's gone at Hogsmeade and I don't want to eat alone."

"Alright," Thalia sighed with a shrug.

Inside the castle, Maddy and Thalia sat down at the Slytherin table and filled their plates with all of the amazing food. It was honestly strange to see the Great Hall so empty, the only other people there were pretty much just first and second years and the foreign students.

"So you can't use your spear?" Thalia asked as Maddy began to explain in more detail about the tournament.

"Yeah, and I'm not even that great at magic," Maddy groaned. "I'm not _bad_ but people under seventh year weren't supposed to be entered and I'm a _fourth year_ , Thalia, a _fourth year_! And I'm not Hermione or Elliot, who collectively know everything there is to know probably about the universe as a whole or Percy I Saved the World Multiple Time Jackson."

"Well, you said-" A yell cut her off.

"THALIA!"

She turned and saw a young girl, who couldn't possibly be older than Maddy but was wearing a Beauxbatons uniform, walking up to the two of them.

"Circe, what're you doing here?" Thalia asked.

"I came here for the Triwizard Tournament," the girl replied. "Sadly, I was not picked, but I should really be asking you what you are doing here."

"The Hunters and I came here looking for some dragons. So far we've had no luck, though."

"That's strange..." The girl tilted her head curiously and sat down.

"Uh, Thalia..." Maddy interjected.

"Oh right, Maddy, this is Circe MacBeth," Thalia introduced the two, "she's a Hunter of Artemis. Circe, this is my cousin Maddy Mender. She's a daughter of Hades."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Circe held her hand out. "It's no surprise that you are Hogwart's champion if you are the daughter of such a powerful god."

"Yeah," Maddy sighed, "lucky me."

Only a few minutes later, Circe had been called over back to her group of Beauxbaton students at the Ravenclaw table and Hagrid walked into the Great Hall and headed straight for Maddy.

"Afternoon, Maddy," he said kindly.

"Hi."

"Ah, I see yer cousin's still here."

"Yeah... she's... camping... while backpacking across Europe," Maddy lied jerkily.

"Yes, I'm camping," Thalia added with a discrete roll of her eyes.

"I'm Hagrid," he introduced himself.

"Thalia."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Hagrid said, then hurriedly turned to Maddy and said, "Listen, I've got to speak with you."

"Okay, can it happen here?" Maddy asked.

Hagrid sighed and bent down to whispered, "Maddy, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. I've told Harry to come as well, you might as well go under his cloak with him."

"Alright, I'll be there," she replied as Hagrid stood up and bid farewell as he ventured back outside.


	7. Dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, idk if I've said this yet but I swear there is a reason for Maddy being the Hogwarts champion. I promise.
> 
> Also sorry I didn't update at week, I'll try to update again tomorrow since I'm pretty sure today's Wednesday.

****That night, Maddy set out to meet Hagrid at his cabin. Just outside the entrance, Maddy literally ran into Harry.

"Ow," he said, grabbing for the invisibility cloak which had come off in his fall as Maddy made herself visible, still sitting on the ground. "Did Hagrid invite you too?"

"Yeah," Maddy said as she got to her feet, rubbing the top of her head, which still hurt from colliding with Harry's chest. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"No clue," he shrugged.

They walked down the lawn toward the lights shining in Hagrid's cabin. The inside of the enormous Beauxbatons carriage was also lit up; Maddy could hear Madame Maxime talking inside it as Harry knocked on Hagrid's front door.

"You there, Harry, Maddy?" Hagrid whispered, opening the door and looking around.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"I'm here too," Maddy said, slipping through the door and making herself visible again as Harry emerged from his cloak. "What's up?"

"Got summat ter show yeh," said Hagrid. There was an air of enormous excitement about Hagrid. He was wearing a flower that resembled an oversized artichoke in his buttonhole. It looked as though he had abandoned the use of axle grease, but he had certainly attempted to comb his hair, Maddy could see the comb's broken teeth tangled in it.

"What're you showing us?" Harry said warily.

"Come with me, keep quiet, an' keep yerselves covered with that cloak," said Hagrid. "We won' take Fang, he won' like it..."

"Listen, Hagrid, I can't stay long... I've got to be back up at the castle by one o'clock-" But Hagrid wasn't listening; he was opening the cabin door and striding off into the night.

"What do you have to do that's so important tonight?" Maddy asked quietly.

"I'm meeting with Sirius, remember?"

"Oh yeah, right... Are we going to the Beauxbatons carriage?"

"Hagrid, what-?" Harry said in a louder voice as she spoke.

"Shhh!" said Hagrid, and he knocked three times on the door bearing the crossed golden wands. Madame Maxime opened it. She was wearing a silk shawl wrapped around her massive shoulders.

She smiled when she saw Hagrid. "Ah, Hagrid... it is time?"

"Bong-sewer," said Hagrid, beaming at her, and holding out a hand to help her down the golden steps. Madame Maxime closed the door behind her, Hagrid offered her his arm, and they set off around the edge of the paddock containing Madame Maxime's giant winged horses, with Harry and Maddy, both completely bewildered, running to keep up with them.

"Where is it you are taking me, Hagrid?" Maxime asked happily.

"Yeh'll enjoy this," said Hagrid gruffly, "worth seein', trust me. On'y — don' go tellin' anyone I showed yeh, right? Yeh're not s'posed ter know."

"Of course not," said Madame Maxime, fluttering her long black eyelashes. And still they walked. Hagrid clearly had some harebrained scheme in hand, and Maddy was honestly terrified.

When they had walked so far around the perimeter of the forest that the castle and the lake were out of sight, Maddy heard something. Men were shouting up ahead and then came a deafening, earsplitting roar.. Hagrid led Madame Maxime around a clump of trees and came to a halt. Maddy hurried up alongside them and then she immediately stopped.

They had seemed to have stumbled upon the Hunters' missing dragons.

Four fully grown, enormous, vicious-looking dragons were rearing onto their hind legs inside an enclosure fenced with thick planks of wood, roaring and snorting, torrents of fire were shooting into the dark sky from their open, fanged mouths, fifty feet above the ground on their outstretched necks. There was a silvery-blue one with long, pointed horns, snapping and snarling at the wizards on the ground; a smooth-scaled green one, which was writhing and stamping with all its might; a red one with an odd fringe of fine gold spikes around its face, which was shooting mushroom-shaped fire clouds into the air; and a gigantic black one, more lizard-like than the others, which was nearest to them.

At least thirty wizards, seven or eight to each dragon, were attempting to control them, pulling on the chains connected to heavy leather straps around their necks and legs.

"Keep back there, Hagrid!" yelled a wizard near the fence, straining on the chain he was holding. "They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I've seen this Horntail do forty!"

"Is'n' it beautiful?" said Hagrid softly.

"It's no good!" yelled another wizard. "Stunning Spells, on the count of three!"

" _Stupefy_!" the dragon keepers shouted in unison, and the Stunning Spells shot into the darkness like fiery rockets, bursting in showers of stars on the closest dragon's scaly hides, then, very slowly, it fell. Several tons of sinewy, scaly-black dragon hit the ground with a thud that made the trees behind them quake.

The dragon keepers lowered their wands and walked forward to their fallen charges, each of which was the size of a small hill. They hurried to tighten the chains and fasten them securely to iron pegs, which they forced deep into the ground with their wands.

"Wan' a closer look?" Hagrid asked Madame Maxime excitedly. The pair of them moved right up to the fence, and Maddy could feel Harry moving after them, but this was the point that Maddy decided to leave.

Very quickly.

She was running through the trees, trying to locate a very specific place, deep in the very, very large forest.

Once she had stumbled into the Hunters' camp, Maddy was panting and sweating a lot. There were a few Hunters of Artemis standing out on guard but most of them seemed to be asleep.

"What is it?" One of them asked.

"I found the dragons," she said through laboured breath. "Go kill them now!"

"I...'ll go get Thalia," she said and walked over to the tent in the centre.

A few minutes later, the girl and Thalia emerged and headed over to Maddy.

"You found the dragons?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah, and we need to kill them _now_. Right now or I and probably everyone else will die a fiery death!"

"Alright, I'll get some people together and we'll go get them. Do you have your weapon?"

"Yeah, but if you have any extra bows I'd like one so I can stay as far away from the dragons as possible because i don't think I know a single spell that I could actually perform that would harm them. Also, is Artemis still here because-"

"No, she left a few hours ago," Thalia interjected. "And I can get one of the girl's that's staying behind to lend you her bow and arrows."

"Thank you," Maddy sighed.

The next few minutes were spent assuming people to stay and keep an eye on the camp and others to go kill the dragons and eventually, Maddy was leading them through the woods to the place where the dragons had been, at least if she had remembered correctly.

"About how much farther away are the dragons?" Thalia asked.

"Not far, can't you hear them?"

"No," Thalia shook her head.

"That's weird, is pretty loud and you have better hearing they me."

Thalia said nothing, though she seemed to be thinking about something.

"Keep your eyes on that horntail!" Maddy could hear Bill shout after a loud roar and some shrieks of alarm.

"Please say you heard that, right?" Maddy asked.

"I still don't hear anything," Thalia replied.

"Neither do I," another one of the Hunters piped up, as did several others.

"Alright, let's just get to where at least I can view it and see before I freak out. No, this can _not_ be my imagination, my friend Harry saw it and our friend Hagrid showed the dragons to us."

They all walked just a bit further until Maddy spotted the dragons and said, "There, dragons."

"I just see a clearing," Thalia added from beside her. Maddy groaned loudly.

"There must be something hiding them or something! I'm going to have to fight a dragon! I'm going to die! They're all huge! _Everyone's_ going to die!"

"Who's there?" One f the dragon tamers shouted and began to walk toward them. Maddy quickly ushered everyone away just in time and then, very grumpy, scared and angry, returned to the Slytherin common room.

* * *

After finding out about the dragons, Maddy began to grab anything that she could use as weapon, including knives from the dinner table and pieces of metal. She also spent all her time studying with Harry, Hermione and Bella. Despite all their work they were unable to find anything of use.

"Well, there are Switching Spells. . . but what's the point of Switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous.. . . The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide. . . . I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really  
haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall. . . unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers. . . ."

"Hermione," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "will you shut up for a bit, please? I'm trying to concentrate."

There was a long, frustrated silence.

"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" said Hermione  
irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look over at the pair of them, and  
settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, Harry, we'll go  
back to the common room. . . his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away..."  
And sure enough, as they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past them, one of  
them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.

On Monday, the day before the first task, Moody grabbed Harry and Maddy from their Herbology and Charms classes respectively.

"So... found out about the dragons, have you?" Harry and Maddy remained silent. "It's all right," said Moody, sitting down and stretching out his wooden leg with a groan. "Cheating's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been."

"We didn't cheat," said Harry sharply. "It was a sort of accident that we found out."

Moody grinned. "I wasn't accusing you, laddie. I've been telling Dumbledore from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Karkaroff and Maxime won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Dumbledore. They'd like to prove he's only human."  
Moody gave another harsh laugh, and his magical eye swiveled around so fast it  
made Harry feel queasy to watch it.

"So... got any ideas how you're going to get past your dragons yet?" said Moody.

"No," said Harry.

"Not one," Maddy added.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you," said Moody gruffly. "I don't show favoritism, me. I'm just going to give you both some good, general advice. And the first bit is - play to your strengths."

"I haven't got any," said Harry, before he could stop himself.

"Excuse me," growled Moody, "you've got strengths if I say you've got them. Think now. What are you best at?"

"Quidditch," he said dully, "and a fat lot of help-"

"That's right," said Moody, staring at him very hard, his magical eye barely moving at all. "You're a damn good flier from what I've heard."

"Yeah, but..." Harry stared at him. "I'm not allowed a broom, I've only got my wand..."

"My second piece of general advice," said Moody loudly, interrupting him, "is to  
use a nice, simple spell that will enable you to get what you need."

Harry seemed confused.

"Harry, the summoning charm," Maddy said.

"Now, Mender, what are your strengths?" Moody asked.

"Getting serious injuries," she replied.

"Mender, think about this seriously."

"Fine, I guess I'm decent at charms and defensive spells. But I haven't found any that can pierce a dragon's hide."

"You're really good at hiding," Harry brought up.

"Yes Harry but dragons can smell."

"Use your skills, Mender."

Maddy thought for a minute. How could she use her skills that weren't using the many weapons she had collected over the last few days. Then, she understood what she needed to do.

That night, Harry, Maddy, Bella and Hermione found an empty classroom and Harry worked on the summoning charm and Maddy on distraction spells. Hermione were rotating between the two of them.

They kept practicing until past midnight. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves  
turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started  
chucking chairs across the room. They all left in a hurry in order to avoid Filch.

Once inside her common room, instead of going to sleep like a sensible person, Maddy convinced Elliot to help her by reminding her that if she died she would be the only remotely sensible person left in their year.

Multiple times throughout the night, people came up to the common room and told them to just stop and go to sleep because they were waking everyone up.

"This was a mistake," Maddy said as the two walked to breakfast. "I feel like I'm dying!"

"I feel," Elliot sighed, clapping her hand on Maddy's back.

"You two look _awful_ ," Bella noted upon sitting down.

"We were up all night," Maddy groaned.

"You should go to Madam Pomfrey, she has a potion that wakes you up pretty good! Harry and Hermione are getting some."

"Bye!" Maddy exclaimed and violently exited the Great Hall with Elliot on her heels.

Before they had even gotten to the hospital wing, the pair was stopped by Harry and Hermione, the latter was holding two bottles.

"We figured you two would have been up all night," Hermione said, "so we got these for you."

"Oh, thank Tyche, you are a life saver!" Maddy exclaimed as she took one of the bottles and drank from it.

"I will not die today!" Elliot exclaimed at the same time as she too grabbed one of the bottles and drank the potion.

* * *

At lunch, Professor McGonagall walked up to the Gryffindor table and told Harry and Maddy that they needed to go on the grounds with the other Champions.

"Okay," said Harry, standing up, his fork falling onto his plate with a clatter.

"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered. "You'll be fine!"

"Yeah," said Harry in a voice that was most unlike his own.

"Thanks, Hermione," Maddy said in a shaky voice.

"Maddy," Bella said, "Remember, if you add _Maxima_ to the end of a spell it almost always makes it more powerful."

"Got it."

ft the Great Hall with Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem herself either;  
in fact, she looked nearly as anxious as Hermione. As she walked him down the  
stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on his  
Shoulder.

"Now, don't panic," she said, "just keep a cool head... We've got wizards  
standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. . . . The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you... Are you alright?"

"Yes," Harry said. "Yes, I'm fine."

"No, professor," Maddy said. "I'm horribly sick."

"You seem fine to me, Mender," McGonagall replied.

"Okay, but what if, and this is just a hypothetical, I ended up being in America?"

"Then you would be brought back."

"And what if I spontaneously lost an arm?"

"Seeing as that has never happened before, I have no idea what would happen."

"Thank you, Professor!"

She was leading him toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of  
the forest, but when they approached the clump of trees behind which the  
enclosure would be clearly visible, Harry saw that a tent had been erected, its  
entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.  
"You're to go in here with the other champions," said Professor McGonagall, in a  
rather shaky sort of voice, "and wait for your turn, Potter. Mr. Bagman is in there... he'll be telling you the - the procedure... Good luck."

"Thanks," said Harry, in a flat, distant voice. She left him at the entrance of the tent. Harry went inside.

Fleur Delacour was sitting in a corner on a how wooden stool. She didn't look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy. Viktor Krum looked even surlier than usual, which Maddy supposed was his way of showing nerves.

"Harry! Good-o!" said Bagman happily, looking around at him and Maddy, although he seemed to not even register the latter. "Come in, come in, make yourself at home!"

Bagman looked somehow like a slightly overblown cartoon figure, standing amid all the pale-faced champions. He was wearing his old Wasp robes again.

"Well, now we're all here, time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the  
audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag-" he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them "-from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different -er- varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too... ah, yes... your task is to collect the golden egg!"

And in no time at all, hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard  
passing the tent, their owners talking excitedly, laughing, joking and then Bagman was opening the neck of the purple silk sack.

"Ladies first," he said, offering it to Fleur Delacour.

She put a shaking hand inside the bag and drew out a tiny, perfect model of a dragon - a Welsh Green. It had the number two around its neck And Maddy knew, by the fact that Fleur showed no sign of surprise, but rather a determined  
resignation, that he had been right: Madame Maxime had told her what was  
Coming.

Maddy put her hand into the bag, and out came the blueish-gray Swedish Short-Snout, the number one tied around its neck. Of course she would go first.

The same held true for Krum. He pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball. It had a number three around its neck. He didn't even blink, just sat back down and stared at the ground.

Harry put his hand into the silk bag and pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, and the number four.

"Well, there you are!" said Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Miss Mender, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when  
you hear a whistle, all right? Now... Harry... could I have a quick word? Outside?"

"Er... yes," said Harry blankly, and he got up and went out of the tent with  
Bagman

"What's with Bagman?" Maddy asked under her breath.

" _Psst!_ "

Maddy turned around and saw Thalia poking her head into the tent. She walked over to her and asked her what she was doing there.

"We could finally see the dragons," she sighed, "but I guess it's too late. But I've got several Hunters just outside the arena so they can help if any of the dragons go out."

"Oh, that's good," Maddy said quickly, "Listen, Thalia, cut off my arm!" She hissed as she pulled out one of the knives she had collected from the Great Hall, all of which were butter knives.

"What? I'm not cutting off your arm!" Thalia exclaimed. "Especially not with a butter knife. Why?"

"If I lose my arm I might not have to compete and even if I do no one will blame me if, instead of facing my dragon, I run far away. Now be quick, I'm going first." Maddy shoved the knife into Thalia's hand and pulled up her sleeve.

"No, Maddy."

"Maddy!" Another person hissed and said girl only had to turn her head a fraction of an inch in order to see who it had been.

It was Hermione, accompanied by Bella, the both of them were poking their heads through the tent.

"Where's Harry?" Bella asked, looking around the tent.

"Is that your cousin that you ran off into the Forbidden Forest with?" Hermione asked. "Also, we are really going to be needing an explanation on that soon and we won't accept 'I'm preparing for the second task' as an excuse."

"Okay, okay, Hermione," Maddy said, "this is my _paternal_ cousin Thalia Grace, you can talk to her for answers, and Bella, Harry went off with Bagman, I don't know why, I don't know where they are and I just hope he comes back before I have to go and face my dragon."

"Which did you get?" Bella asked.

"The Swedish Short Snout," she replied. "I'm so glad I didn't get the Hungarian Horntail, although, of course, Harry did, because we have the kind of luck where one of us would get the absolute _worst_ option. Thankfully it was not me this time."

A whistle blew somewhere and Maddy grimace, turning startlingly pale.

"That's me," she said in a strained, falsely joyous voice. "Goodbye, I may not see you three ever again, tell Elliot she's a terrible human being and Harry and Ron that I hate the both of them."

Without waiting for a response, Maddy exited the tent, just as Harry was returning to it. With every step her nerves got worse and worse, soon she was sure she was either going to throw up or have a heart attack. Probably both.

It must have been a thousand faces that were staring down at her, their eyes boaring into her head and soul. And then, right in front of her, the Swedish Short Snout sat on a clutch of eyes, the golden one glinting just out of sight. The dragon looked incredibly dangerous and very angry. It was perched as if about to attack and smoke was coming from it's nostrils, though it had yet to spot the daughter of Hades.

Maddy gripped her wand tightly and quickly moved over to a darker part of the arena in order to meld into the shadows. Once this was accomplished she held out her wand and whispered, " _Alarte Ascendare_ ," and a giant boulder, one of the many environmental effects added into the arena, violently shot up into the air and crashed down right behind the Swedish Short Snout.

" _Bombarda!_ " Maddy said under her breath, aiming at another boulder, this time it was to another side of the dragon, it turned toward that one as it exploded. " _Mobiliarus!_ " She picked up a nearby boulder and made it fly around in circles going around and around the dragon until it smacked it out of the air and caused it to shatter.

" _Bombarda!_ " Maddy exclaimed quietly, this time, aiming at nothing and farther away. There was an explosion against the wall, but the dragon didn't move away from it's nest. She had no clue what to do to make it move! She would kill for Hazel's ability to summon precious metals, all she could do was identify them by sight, which was just _so_ helpful.

Maddy had no clue what to do and all she could hear was a loud buzzing in her ears and she couldn't think at all. She couldn't even concentrate on what the dragon was doing until she felt something incredibly hot.

She flinched and the second she realized that the hot thing was _fire_ she ran as fast as she could, away, as the dragon chased her with it's flame. Still not moving from it's nest.

" _Bombarda Maxima!_ " Maddy shouted, still running. The explosion wasn't as loud as it should have been, but it was still bigger than the plain spell. However, while not as big as it was supposed to be, it hit exactly where she wanted, right in the nest, right under the dragon.

It stopped spitting fire and shot up into the air, roaring loudly in alarm, clearly not hurt just shocked and the force of the explosion sent it into the air. Maddy shot right to the nest and almost had her hands on the golden egg, but then she shrieked in alarm as the Swedish Short Snout nearly bit her hand off.

Then, it began to claw at her, repeatedly. Maddy dodged each slash, and had to force herself not to pull out her spear. Why wouldn't this dragon just _move_ and _stay away_ long enough for her to grab the _stupid egg_.

Maddy tried to find something that she could do and then she spotted a platform right below the dragon's foot.

" _Reducto!_ "

The rock disintegrated and the Swedish Short Snout stumbled and fell.

Maddy quickly reached out, but before she could get her hands on the golden egg the dragon hurled around and, instead of trying to bite her hand like before, blew out a thick jet of fire, the Maddy was _just barely_ too late to miss. The pain was excruciating, her face hurt so much and she could smell her hair burning.

" _Fuck!_ " She hissed. " _Damn it!_ Tyche, listen, please jure let me get this stupid egg for this stupid contest, I want this to be ov- _AH FUCK! JESUS CHRIST!_ " She shrieked as a large dragon foot slammed down beside her head.

She stumbled away, aimed for the foot and shouted, " _Bombarda!_ " The dragon didn't even register it. "Why, gods, why? Why _me_?" Maddy took in a deep breath as she tried to figure out what to do. Her plan wasn't working, none of them were and she had no clue what else she could do that was magic. She was on the verge of just manipulating the shadows without even bothering to disguise it as magic, something she had been attempting to figure out how to do since her distraction plan.

Just one second later and Maddy couldn't stand being out there anymore. Just for show, she aimed her wand at the egg she wanted and made the shadow of the dragon solidify beneath it and quickly pulled it toward her. She grasped it tightly and she could suddenly hear the crowd, making indistinct noises and Bagman yelling with his voice magically amplified, "AND THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS, THE FIRST CHAMPION HAS RETRIEVED HER GOLDEN EGG FROM THE SWEDISH SHORT SNOUT!"

Many dragons keepers were running forward to subdue the dragon and Maddy was guided back into the tent to get her wounds tended by Madam Pomfrey before getting her score.

Hagrid, Hermione, Bella, Elliot and surprisingly Ron and Moody went to see her there.

"Yeh did it, Maddy!" Hagrid exclaimed happily. "Yeh did great!"

Bella was dancing around happily while Hermione fussed over her wounds with Madam Pomfrey who was tending to them, Elliot simply said that Maddy should have done something that was more fun to watch and Ron apologised for being a prat. Moody looked pretty happy too, his magical eye was bouncing around in its socket but he didn't really say anything.

When Madam Pomfrey was done with the basic first aid, Maddy was sent out again to get her score.

"We'll be scoring out of ten,"Bagman announced, "and move down the judges table."

The first judge was Madam Maxime, she raised her large hand and out of her wand the number seven was released.

"Not bad," Ron said.

Then Crouch gave Maddy a six. Dumbledore shot out a seven. Bagman - eight, and then Karkaroff. He gave Maddy a three.

Ron and Bella went ballistic, but Maddy's knee-jerk reaction was the laugh hysterically.

Maddy was then sent back to the medical tent so she could heal more and the others went back to their seats.

She could faintly hear Fleur being called out and not too long after she entered the medical tent with slightly singed pants and a cut along her arm. She and Maddy chatted a bit when Madam Pomfrey had finished with the both of them and apparently they had gotten about the same scores, but Fleur had done better, which wasn't surprising.

Not too long after he was called out, Krum daunted into the medical tent, seemingly unharmed other than a few small scratches. Then Harry was called out.

Maddy tried her best to hear what was happening but was largely unsuccessful. She really only heard Bagman saying how excellent a flier Harry was and the crowd making lots of very loud sounds.

After his task was over he was rushed into the tent and out so fast Maddy couldn't talk to him, and then she wasn't aloud to go meet him to see his scores because she -as well as Fleur and Krum- had to return to the champion's tent.

"Harry what's your score?" Maddy asked when he entered the tent.

"I'm tied for first with Krum," he replied. "What's yours, and what happened?" He was dying the orange salve all over Maddy's face and her now shorter and uneven hair that had to be pulled out of the way, revealing her blind eye.

"I'm in last," she sighed. "And what happened was I got a very stubborn dragon that was probably out to just make my life harder."

"Well done, all of you!" said Ludo Bagman, bouncing into the tent and looking as  
pleased as though he personally had just got past a dragon. "Now, just a quick few  
words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth - but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open... see the hinges there? You  
need to solve the clue inside the egg - because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!"

Harry joined Ron the minute he got out of the tent but shortly after she exited, Maddy was pulled aside by Thalia.

"Jesus Christ, Wind Head, what was that for?" Maddy asked, rubbing her arm.

"We can't get to the drag- what happened to your face?"

"Oh, I spilled some paint on my face," Maddy replied sarcastically. "It was fire, Thalia and this orange shit is a salve for the burns."

"Okay, but your eye."

"Oh the eye, yeah that's old. An Emposai had poison on her claws and, being the idiot I am, I didn't get it checked out as soon as I could."

"Oh, okay. Maddy, do you know how we can't get to the dragons?"

"No clue, it probably has to do with magic."

"Damn it, we'll probably be going back to America soon by the way."

"Or... you could stay-"

"Maddy I can't-"

"Why not?"

"Artemis is gone and we ne-"

"But you could just put someone else in charge and stay to help me!"

"No, Maddy."

"Oh fine," Maddy sighed and said goodbye to her cousin.


	8. The Egg

"Open up that egg, Mender!" Elliot exclaimed when Maddy got back to her dorm room, holding the golden egg in her hand after finally getting the orange salve washed off of her face.

"I'm on, it, El, chill out," Maddy rolled her eyes and opened up the latch on top of the egg, but it was empty. Then, only a second later, there was a loud, shrill sound emitting from the egg. It wasn't anything nearly recognizable and so loud that Maddy had to drop it to cover her ears.

The rest of the Slytherins were screaming at them to stop whatever was making the noise for the entire time until Maddy managed to shut the egg.

"THANK GOD!"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT NOISE! DON'T DO IT AGAIN!"

"MENDER, I WILL MURDER YOU IF YOU DO THAT ONE MORE TIME!"

"SORRY!" Maddy shouted, then added to Elliot, "Do you have any idea what that was about?"

"It sounds like Mermish," she replied.

"Okay, is that a language? Translate it, what does it say?"

"What are you thinking? I don't know Mermish, the only foreign language I know technically isn't even a foreign language and when I _do_ start to learn them Mermish is the last one I would learn."

"Okay, but why?" Maddy asked. "You pick up things fast, I bet you could understand this in the time that-"

"Maddy, I will _never, ever_ learn Mermish. My mum speaks Mermish."

"That is a very mature reason."

"Yes, I know."

"Wait, so if that was Mermish, does that mean I have to go _underwater_? _I_ have to go _underwater_ , Elliot? ELLIOT, I CAN'T GO UNDERWATER! I WILL DIE IF I GO UNDERWATER! ELLIOT HELP ME!"

"Let me go-o-o-o-o, Ma-a-a-a-addy," Elliot said shakily while Maddy violently shook her around. The daughter of Hades let her go and face planted herself into the pillow on her bed.

"Do you have any advice for me or what?" Maddy groaned after a few minutes of silence.

"What? Did you think I was - oh, no, you know me. I would never do that unless it makes it more entertaining for me and I don't even have any ideas so," she didn't finish that off and just shrugged.

* * *

"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?" Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip through the Transfiguration class on Thursday, and Harry and Ron both jumped and looked up.

It was the end of the lesson; everyone had finished their work; the guinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk; they had copied down their homework from the blackboard ("Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches"). The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Harry and Ron, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands at the back of the class, and when the two of them looked up Ron was holding a tin parrot and Harry, a rubber haddock. Maddy, Bella and Elliot were chuckling under their breath -as were several others.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor McGonagall, with an angry look at the pair of them, "I have something to say to you all. "The Yule Ball is approaching -a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above, although you may invite a younger student if you wish-"

Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle for some very unclear reason. Parvati Patil nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Harry. Professor McGonagall ignored them.

"Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then-" Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class. "The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to, er, let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice.

Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. Maddy could see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.

"But that does _not_ mean," Professor McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor - _or Slytherin_ \- student embarrasses the school in any way."

The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders. Professor McGonagall called above the noise, "Potter, Mender - a word, if you please."

Harry and Maddy walked up to her desk, curious and a bit anxious. Professor McGonagall waited until the rest of the class had gone, and then said, "Potter, Mender, the champions and their partners-"

"What partners?" Harry asked obliviously. Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at him, as though she thought he was trying to be funny.

"Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter," she said coldly. "Your dance partners."

"Dance partners?" Harry had gone incredibly red. "I don't dance," he said quickly.

"I don't either," Maddy added.

"Oh yes, you do," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "That's what I'm telling the both of you. Traditionally, the champions and their partners open the ball."

"But, um, Professor, I don't have anyone who could _possibly_ be my partner," Maddy said slowly. "Also, I don't know how to dance and just generally don't really have the capability for looking nice. And ever since the first task my hair has just been more of a mess than usual, it won't stay in place -that has freaked _so many_ people out because I have a _really bad_ scar under this mess- also, I can't get rid of these bags under my eyes and you can see all of my bones and I absolutely _despise_ fancy clothes. It's - I should just stop talking now, I've been doing that for too long now. It's been like five minutes and I'm stopping now, now is when I am being quiet."

"I'm not dancing," Harry added.

"Me too, that's the summary of all I said just now, pretty much."

"It is traditional," said Professor McGonagall firmly. "You are the Hogwarts champions, and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you get yourselves partners."

"But, I don't-"

"You heard me, Potter," said Professor McGonagall in a very final sort of way.

"I don't have anyone to-" Maddy started.

"No one, Mender? You ought to be able to find someone before the ball."

"So, what's the type of music that's played so I can know what type of partner I should get."

"The dance exclusively for the champions is a slow dance," McGonagall replied.

"Professor, this might be a little too coarse but, I will vomit. I will vomit if I have to do something like that. It is just too awful and gross."

"Mender, you will not-"

"No, Professor, I once almost got sick just because I saw my cousin hug his girlfriend, I just can't do romance stuff and slow dances are always romantic and disgusting."

"Mender, it is not romantic."

"Okay, in that case, what if I got sick the day of? Like contagious, bad and just basically Anthrax or Dragon Pox, either could work in this situation."

"Do not give yourself Dragon Pox."

"Alright, you're right, I wouldn't do that, but what if I went blind? Or lost a leg?"

"I'm sure neither of those things will happen."

"You know, you're right, Professor, that is completely insane, come on, Harry, we should get to lunch," Maddy grabbed Harry's arm and began to walk out with him in tow.

Once in the Great Hall, she turned to her friends and said, "Alright, so I need one of you to cut off either one or both of my legs."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"I might not have to do the Yule ball if that happens!"

"Are you going to say this to get out of everything from now on?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, absolutely, it is the easy way out of _everything_ and once I have had all of my limbs replaced with prosthetic ones I will break them and get out of stuff that way, so don't ask what happens when they are all off of my body."

From then on, Maddy was continuously suggesting things that she could do to get out of the Yule Ball, such as going back to America or to the Underworld. She may or may not have suggested going into actual Tartarus multiple times.

"Why do they have to move in packs?" Harry asked one day as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry. "How're you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"

"Lasso one?" Ron suggested. "Got any idea who you're going to try?"

Harry didn't reply but Bella sang, "Cho Chang!"

"That isn't - I don't want to ask out Cho!" Harry exclaimed, his face turning bright red.

"Ugh, you guys are being gross," Maddy groaned.

"Have you even gotten a date yet, Bella?" Harry continued, ignoring Maddy.

"As a matter of fact, yes, but you don't get to know until the day of the dance!" She sang. "Besides, you don't need to worry about me, you need to worry about yourself. My suggestion is that you, Harry, ask out Ron and, Maddy, you ask out Hazel so you don't feel like something romantic is happening."

"Why would I ask out Ron?" Harry asked as Ron made a face.

"Because you two would be so cute together," Bella whisper-squealed.

"Why would Hazel come here to dance with me?" Maddy asked. "She can't even shadow travel, we've only known each other for almost a year and she's dating Frank."

"Well you try to get Nico away from Will then, I bet that would be _so much more_ successful than getting Hazel away from Frank."

"Give me another suggestion, Bella, otherwise I will fling myself into Tartarus or I will shadow travel to Mount Everest and both freeze to death and suffocate if you don't come up with someone I won't feel weird slow dancing with."

"Well, Elliot and Hermione have dates already."

"The two of them have dates before us?" Ron asked.

"Yes, you're such a catch, Ronald," Maddy rolled her eyes.

"I mostly meant you and Harry," he replied, "you two face _dragons_! People should be lining up to ask you two to the dance!"

"Thank the gods they aren't."

* * *

The last week of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Rumors about the Yule Ball were flying everywhere, though Maddy didn't believe half of them -for instance, that Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. It seemed to be fact, however, that he had booked the Weird Sisters. Exactly who or what the Weird Sisters were Maddy didn't know, never having had access to a wizard's wireless, but she deduced from the wild excitement of those who had grown up listening to the WWN (Wizarding Wireless Network) that they were a very famous musical group, specifically a rock group according to Bella and Ron. They were terrible according to Elliot but the best according to literally everyone else.

Some of the teachers, like little Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach them much when their minds were so clearly elsewhere; he allowed them to play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to Harry about the perfect Summoning Charm he had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Other teachers were not so generous. Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions, as Binns hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy Weasley's cauldron-bottom report.

Professors McGonagall and Moody kept them working until the very last second of their classes too, and Snape, of course, would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt any of the Gryffindors. Staring nastily around at them all, he informed them that he would be testing them on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.

"Evil, he is," Ron said bitterly that night in the library. "Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of studying."

"Mmm... you're not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?" said Hermione, looking at him over the top of her Potions notes. Ron was busy building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack -a much more interesting pastime than with Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up at any second.

"It's Christmas, Hermione," said Harry lazily; he was rereading _Flying with the Cannons_ for the tenth time. Hermione looked severely over at him too.

"I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!"

"Like what?" Harry said.

"That egg!" Hermione hissed.

"Come on, Hermione, I've got till February the twenty-fourth," Harry said.

"Well Maddy's working on it, right, Maddy?"

"Absolutely not," she replied, "I'm planning to spend the time from Christmas onward until school is over in the Underworld. This is because Elliot has determined that the egg is screeching Mermish, which means going underwater, which means my worst case scenario, which means that I have an amazing opportunity to skip the Yule Ball and the second task in addition to the third one."

"Maddy," Hermione said, sounding very disappointed.

"Hermione," Maddy mimicked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to Harry. "But it might take weeks to work it out!" said Hermione. "You're going to look a real idiot if everyone else knows what the next task is and you don't!"

"He's earned a break, Hermione!" Bella exclaimed from the table over, which she was sitting at alone with a lot of different books set out around it, as well as parchments, inkwells and quills. "And, Maddy, you better come back when we're doing nothing. If you aren't here in January I'm going to get Annabeth and the daughter of Ares -Clarisse?- to actually throw you over the ocean and to here."

Ron placed the last two cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows.

"Nice look, Ron... go well with your dress robes, that will." It was Fred and George. They sat down at the table with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Maddy as Ron felt how much damage had been done.

"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.

"No, he's off delivering a letter," said Ron. "Why?"

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," said Fred sarcastically.

"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," said George.

"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Ron.

"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," said Fred, waving his wand threateningly.

"So... you lot got dates for the ball yet?"

"Nope," said Ron.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred.

"Who're you going with, then?" said Ron.

"Angelina," said Fred promptly, without a trace of embarrassment.

"What?" said Ron, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"

"Yeah, piece of cake." He got to his feet and said, "We'd better use a school owl then, George, come on..."

They left.

"Have Fred and George been writing to someone?" Maddy asked.

"Yeah," Bella said, looking up from her work, "I guess you haven't been with us when we've run into them since it's always been either in the Gryffindor common room or in the owlery before noon or after eleven."

"Yep, I wouldn't be aware of anything taking place in any of those times or places."

"We should get a move on, you know... ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls," Ron said to Maddy and Harry. Hermione let out a sputter of indignation.

"A pair of... what, excuse me?"

"Well, you know," said Ron, shrugging. "I'd rather go alone than with - with Eloise Midgen, say."

"Her acne's loads better lately - and she's really nice!"

"Her nose is off-center," said Ron.

"Eloise is super pretty Ronald, shut up," Bella said, tossing an empty inkwell at his head.

"Oh I see," Hermione said, bristling, at Ron. "So basically, you're going to take the best-looking girl who'll have you, even if she's completely horrible?"

"Er, yeah, that sounds about right," said Ron.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione snapped, and she swept off toward the doors of the library.

"Ron, that's a very douchey thing to say," Maddy said promptly. "And I'm saying this as someone who has lived with a bunch of _American_ teenage boys just everywhere. I mean girls and gods and the odd not American too but a _lot_ of them."

"Are Americans typically worse than us?" Harry asked. "Are we bad?"

"Not always," Bella shrugged. "But muggles do tend to be doucey-ier than wizards I find. Unless they're one of those snotty purebloods like the Malfoys."

* * *

The Hogwarts staff, demonstrating a continued desire to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, seemed determined to show the castle at its best this Christmas. When the decorations went up, Maddy noticed that they were the most stunning he had yet seen inside the school. Everlasting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armor had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them. It was quite something to hear "O Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by an empty helmet that only knew half the words (it was also entertaining to watch several of the students try to teach them other holiday songs as well). Several times, Filch the caretaker had to extract Peeves from inside the armor, where he had taken to hiding, filling in the gaps in the songs with lyrics of his own invention, all of which were very rude and even better than the song without him.

Harry and Ron were getting increasingly nervous about the fact that neither of them had a date yet.

"I suppose there's always Moaning Myrtle," Harry said gloomily over breakfast, referring to the ghost who haunted the girls' toilets on the second floor.

"Oh, no there isn't," Maddy said. "If I end up not skipping that stupid dance I'm going with her."

"Do you seriously want to go with _Moaning Myrtle_?" Ron asked.

"Yes. I mean, she my first option if I have to go. I mean, I plan to go to either America or my dads during that time but who knows what sort of spooky witchcraft those judges'll pull to keep me here... I wonder if they'd stop me from getting on the Hogwarts Express..."

"Harry, we've just got to grit our teeth and do it," said Ron in a tone that suggested they were planning the storming of an impregnable fortress. "When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners, agreed?"

"Er... okay," said Harry a little uncertainly.

"Sounds like a great plan," Bella replied with a roll of her eyes. "Also, off topic, but why is Elliot spending literally all of her time with the Hufflepuffs now? She is actually never around. _Ever_. Also Hermione, where has Hermione been?"

"I have no clue why Elliot is with the Hufflepuffs all the time. I've asked and the only response so far has been 'jealous, are you?' and just being all around smug," Maddy replied, "and I have actually no clue where Hermione has been."

That night, Harry, Ron and Bella arrived at dinner late. Bella was dragging the first two after her and then plopped them down at the table with Maddy and Hermione.

"Hello, Mione, where have you been for the past week?" Bella asked quickly.

"Studying," she replied. "What took you three so long to get here?"

"These two," she pointed her thumb at the boys, "both had very embarassing moments."

"Bella, don't-" Harry started.

"Harry asked Cho Chang to the dance but she's going with Cedric Diggory, you know the Hufflepuff Seeker, that actually wasn't that embarrassing as I imagine it in my brain other than the fact that, knowing Harry, he probably spluttered it all out terribly multiple times," Bella interrupted. "Now, I actually saw Ron's embarrassing thing. Diggory was talking to Fleur Delacour and Ron very visibly panicked and then, in front of a dozen people at least just blurted out ' _d'you wanna go to the Yule Ball with me!_ ' and then, as she just stared at him like he was some sort of slime creature from the bottom of ocean he _ran_. Ron _bolted_ , fast as lightning, he was like the Flash, his skin honestly should have fallen off." At this point she was holding back laughter. "I'm sorry, Ron, it's just funny."

"I hate you," Ron said with a bright red face and a mouth full of food.

"Although, I must say that I am incredibly disappointed that Diggory is going with Chang, he was my second choice for Harry after Ron."

"And who was your third choice for me, Malfoy?" Harry demanded defensively.

"No! He was my seventh choice for you! My third choice was Ginny, but she's already taken!"

"What else did you have lined up for me in your brain?"

"Well, I thought about putting in Seamus and Dean but they're going with each other and I would never want it to be any other way. Now I also had Mandy Brocklehurst, Colin Creevey, Neville, Lavender Brown and Katie Bell."

"There's more guys there than girls," Harry noted.

"Sorry if that's a problem with you, Harry, I just find that you go better with guys. Ron, I had lots of trouble putting a list together for you, Hermione, my list for doesn't matter since you already have a date and, Maddy, I don't have a single person from Hogwarts on your list. It's all your family since I know for a fact that you would actually get sick on the dance floor if it was anyone else because you would be worried about romantic feelings coming from the other person."

"You don't have to explain that, I've said that almost every day since the Yule Ball was announced."

"Oh, I just thought of another person for you! Clarisse!"

"Why would I ask Clarisse, she isn't closely related enough and we only started getting along last year."

"What do you mean 'not closely related enough?' Her dad is literally your cousin. You are second cousins that's pretty close."

"I have two questions," Harry said, "Who is that and who is her dad?"

"Clarisse la Rue is a daughter of Ares," Maddy began, "until very recently she was awful. She would dunk new campers faces into toilets and is just very violent. But she's fine now. Also, I won't be here so this conversation is pointless."

"No, you're definitely going to be here," Bella abjected. "You don't follow through with pretty much anything you say."

"Hermione, is it true that Neville asked you out?" Ron suddenly changed the topic.

"Yes, Ronald, but I'm already going to the dance with someone."

"No, you're not!" said Ron. "You just said that to get rid of Neville! And that means that you can go with one of us."

"Oh did I?" said Hermione, and her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Ron, I told you that Hermione was taken a few weeks ago," Bella exclaimed.

"Harry, you could go with Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, moving away from the topic.

"I already said she's taken!" Bella exclaimed again.

"Since when?"

"Since the last ten minutes."

"How can you know if she's taken within the last ten minutes?" Harry asked.

"Magic."

"Bella."

"I frequently talk to all of my friends, fight me, Ronald, I know your sister better than you do. End of conversation. Do not argue with me unless it is through the ancient art of fisticuffs."

"Did you just call fisticuffs an ancient art?" Maddy asked.

"Maybe..."

"Did you have a mouth seizure?"

"Absolutely, yes, I cannot explain what I said in any other way than... I don't know, some sense of humor? I don't really pay attention to what I say most of the time."

The next day, Maddy was informed that Harry and Ron had gotten dates to the Yule Ball with Parvati and Padma Patil. Along with that piece of information, Ron had begun to repeatedly ask Hermione who she was going to the dance with in order to startle her enough that she would actually say who she was going with. He was also using this failing technique with Bella.

"Hermione, who are you going to the ball with?" Ron asked for the millionth time.

Hermione merely frowned and said, "I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me."

"You're joking, Weasley!" said Malfoy, behind them. "You're not telling me someone's asked _that_ to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"

Harry, Ron, Bella and Maddy all whipped around, but Hermione said loudly, waving to somebody over Malfoy's shoulder, "Hello, Professor Moody!" Malfoy went pale and jumped backward, looking wildly around for Moody, but he was still up at the staff table, finishing his stew. "Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" said Hermione scathingly, and she, Harry, and Ron went up the marble staircase laughing heartily.

"That was great," Maddy said. "I think if I was forced to date someone it would be you, Hermione."

"Thanks," she grinned.

"Hermione," said Ron, looking sideways at her, suddenly frowning, "your teeth..."

"Yes, I have teeth, what about them?" she said.

"Well, they're different... I've just noticed..."

"Of course they are, did you expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me?"

"No, I mean, they're different to how they were before he put that hex on you... They're all... straight and - and normal sized."

Hermione suddenly smiled very mischievously. "Well... when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were," she said. "And I just... let her carry on a bit." She smiled even more widely. "Mum and Dad won't be too pleased. I've been trying to persuade them to let me shrink them for ages, but they wanted me to carry on with my braces. You know, they're dentists, they just don't think teeth and magic should - look! Pigwidgeon's back!"

Ron's tiny owl was twittering madly on the top of the icicle laden banisters, a scroll of parchment tied to his leg. People passing him were pointing and laughing, and a group of third-year girls paused and said, "Oh look at the weeny owl! Isn't he cute?"

"Stupid little feathery git!" Ron hissed, hurrying up the stairs and snatching up Pigwidgeon. "You bring letters to the addressee! You don't hang around showing off!"

Pigwidgeon hooted happily, his head protruding over Ron's fist. The third-year girls all looked very shocked. "Clear off!" Ron snapped at them, waving the fist holding Pigwidgeon, who hooted more happily than ever as he soared through the air.

"Here, take it, Harry," Ron added in an undertone as the third-year girls scuttled away looking scandalized. He pulled the letter off Pigwidgeon's leg, Harry pocketed it, and they hurried back to a quiet corner of the library to read it.

Harry read out:

" _Dear Harry, Congratulations on getting past the Horntail. Whoever put your name in that goblet shouldn't be feeling too happy right now! I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis Curse, as a dragon's eyes are its weakest point-"_

"That's what Krum did!" Hermione whispered

" _-but your way was better, I'm impressed. Don't get complacent, though, Harry. You've only done one task; whoever put you in for the tournament's got plenty more opportunity if they're trying to hurt you. Keep your eyes open -particularly when the person we discussed is around- and concentrate on keeping yourself out of trouble. Keep in touch, I still want to hear about anything unusual._

_-Sirius_

"He sounds exactly like Moody," said Harry quietly, tucking the letter away again inside his robes. "'Constant vigilance!' You'd think I walk around with my eyes shut, banging off the walls..."

"But he's right, Harry," said Hermione, "you have still got two tasks to do. You really ought to have a look at that egg, you know, and start working out what it means..."

"Hermione, he's got ages!" snapped Ron.

"When was the last time you owled Sirius?" Maddy asked. "Was this one of those times that I was asleep?"

"Yes," Bella nodded.

"Hermione, if you really want to help, look up Mermish, maybe you'll be able to translate the eggs."

"Alright, if you two won't do anything," Hermione huffed and walked away to a different part of the library for books on Mermish.

* * *

On Christmas day Maddy woke up to Elliot lazily slapping her face and saying, "Get up, ya git. Presents."

"I'm up," Maddy yawned, forcing herself up into a sitting position.

The two girls unwrapped their presents together before joining the others in the Great Hall. Maddy got a book of charms from Hermione, some caramel candies from Harry, chocolate frogs from Ron, Mrs Weasley's usual package of some homemade candy and a dark green sweater with the letter 'M' sewn into it, some rock cakes from Hagrid, a book on why Divination sucks from Bella, some of Fred and George's experimental candies and from Elliot, Maddy received a snorkel.

"Really, Elliot? You think a snorkel will protect me from my uncle's rage?"

"No, who would think that?" Elliot asked. "But now you can at least breath while you're being killed."

"Do you know how snorkels work?"

"Yes, just make sure you keep the tube above water!"

After lunch, Maddy, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella, Fred, George and Elliot -for once- went outside. The snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle. Hermione chose to watch Harry, Bella, Maddy, Elliot and the Weasleys' snowball fight rather than join in, and at five o'clock said she was going back upstairs to get ready for the ball.

"What, you need three hours?" said Ron, looking at her incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Hermione, but she just waved and disappeared up the stone steps into the castle.

"Oh wait, the Yule Ball's today," Maddy said. "I completely forgot!"

"How did you forget?" Harry asked as Elliot launched a very large snowball at Bella. The two were in a sort of competition separate from the others.

"No clue, I'm just going to leave now..." Maddy dropped the lump of snow she had been forming into a ball and shadow travelled away.


	9. The Yule Ball

Maddy landed somewhere in Asphodel, it was impossible to tell where since everywhere was the same and the home of the majority of the deceased consisted of an open field. Since Asphodel was an infinite plain to accommodate it's forever expanding population it actually wasn't too crowded and some places were even mostly empty and could be a great place to study or read, however, instead of doing something productive she instead decided to search through the masses to locate a single grey haired girl.

Maddy had been doing this since the summer before her third year, but she was never lucky enough to find who she was looking for.

She wasn't sure how much time she spent searching but she sure as Hades knew that it hadn't even been three hours when her surroundings suddenly began to spin at a ridiculous speed that made Maddy nauseous and landed her in the empty Hogwarts entrance hall.

"Of course," she grumbled and she opened up the front doors to see if the others were still outside. "I hate this year..."

"Back already?" Fred -or maybe George- asked.

"Have you no sense of time!" Elliot exclaimed as she chucked a giant snowball at Bella, which narrowly hit her in the arm.

"I'm not back by choice, now I have to find a dance partner," Maddy huffed.

"Ask Hazel!" Bella shouted. "She can get a dress robe from my place!"

"No, I think I'll ask Annabeth instead," Maddy decided and didn't wait for any response before she shadow travelled over to Camp Half Blood. She ten quickly found Annabeth sparing with Clarisse.

She waited for the intense duel to be over -Annabeth very narrowly won- before approaching them so as to avoid being skewered.

"Hey, Maddy," Annabeth said pleasantly when Maddy got to her. "I've been wondering when you'd get back, you're usually here by now."

"Yeah, I have to stay at Hogwarts because if weird but predictable shenanigans with a deadly tournament that I am now a part of because there's a dance tonight and siding of the dance, I need a partner because I'm taking part in the tournament and I have none because I was planning on skipping but then magic summoned me back to Hogwarts _from the Underworld_ and can you go to the dance with me if what saying, one of my friends has some dress robes you can look through and borrow."

"I guess I could," Annabeth replied a little uncertainly. "What time will it be over?"

"No clue but I plan leave as soon as possible. You'll probably be back before midnight New York time."

"Yeah, I can do that then."

"Good, I'm going to very quickly take you to my friends house, you sort through her dress robes and I'll take a nap because I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, that sounds like a solid plan," Annabeth said sarcastically.

"I know it sucks, but we have limited time before I get pulled back."

"Alright, let's go then," she said as she sheathed her knife and Maddy grabbed her arm in order to take her to the Nevra Estate, all the way in Ireland.

They landed in Bella's room -probably because that's were the majority of the pairs time had been spent- and Maddy directed the daughter of Athena to the closet.

Annabeth surveyed the dresses and chose a grey one with accents of gold and blue. She then sat beside Maddy on the bed, grabbing onto her arm, and the pair waited to be sent to the Hogwarts entrance hall, which didn't take long at all.

"Alright, so you should change in a bathroom since everyone would flip a few shits if I took you in the Slytherin common room or dormitories. I'll meet you back here in a few minutes and then we wait for torture!"

"I doubt it'll be _that_ bad," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You would be surprised at what this school can manage... the simplest things can turn into actual Hades. See ya! I'll be back in a minute!" Maddy exclaimed the last parts as she ran in the direction of the Slytherin common room.

Inside her dormitory, her roommates were all getting ready for the Yule Ball, putting their hair up in elaborate styles and fixing their fancy dresses while Maddy just had throw hers on since it was just a robe-like suit. She didn't bother tying the tie or doing anything with her hair and instead just headed back to the entrance hall, where Annabeth was still standing and still holding her dress.

"I'm back," Maddy stated. "Why didn't you change?"

"You do realize that I have no idea how to get around your school, right? Meaning I don't know where any bathrooms are and this place is too big to go exploring alone and I remember those moving staircases, I'm not in the mood to get lost right now," Annabeth replied.

"Right sorry, I'll show you to the nearest bathroom then," Maddy said a bit sheepishly. She guided Annabeth to the bathroom and waited outside while she changed and once the daughter of Athena had emerged, they both went back to the entrance hall, were a few people had begun to congregate.

As they waited, more and more people filed in, eventually Harry and Ron joined them with the Patil twins, the latter two were dressed quite nicely in pink and turquoise, while Harry was in a fancy emerald robe similar to Maddy's and Ron was wearing what looked to be an antique dress from his great-great grandmother with horribly frayed edges and a strange smell.

"Fantastic robes, Ronald," Maddy said upon seeing him. "Simply wonderful, I would pay good money for it. Although, I wouldn't want to touch it, it looks _really_ fragile."

"Shut up, Maddy," Ron sighed and adjusted his sleeves a bit uncomfortably.

"No can do, anyways, you have both met my friend, Annabeth, who I have recruited for this dance. Annabeth, these are Harry and Ron and for their dates they have brought Parvati and Padma Patil."

"Nice to see you two again, I guess," Annabeth said more than a little awkwardly. "And nice to meet you two." The Patil's agreed, one vocally and one with a simple nod.

"Woo!" Bella leapt into the crowd with a huge grin, her big, puffy, rainbow dress took up a lot of room. "Hey, Annabeth!"

"Hi, Bella," she waved just as Lee Jordan walked up and said hello to everyone -of course he also made a comment about how style must not run in the family to Ron since Fred and George had pretty nice -if very plain- dress robes and this made Ron go more than a little red in embarrassment.

"Where're Hermione and Elliot?" Ron asked after several minutes.

"Hermione's probably still trying to tame her hair," Bella said, "and Lee and I saw Elliot over there," she pointed towards the walkway from the dungeons. "She was with a bunch of Hufflepuffs, but she said she'd try to find us soon."

Just then, a group of Slytherins came up the steps from their dungeon common room. Malfoy was in front; he was wearing a dress robe of black velvet with a high collar, which honestly made him look like a vicar. Pansy Parkinson was in very frilly robes of pale pink and was clutching Malfoy's arm. Crabbe and Goyle were both wearing green; they resembled moss-colored boulders, and neither of them had managed to find a partner.

The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered with Professor Karkaroff. Krum was at the front of the party, accompanied by a pretty girl in red robes that Maddy didn't know, although Krum looked a bit disappointed with his partner.

In the gaps between each of them, Maddy saw that an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights, meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes that had been conjured there, and fluttering over the statues of what seemed to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.

"Oh, I see Elliot," Bella suddenly said and then began jumping up and down and waving while calling Elliot's name.

"I could see you just fine, you know. You didn't have to scream my name," Elliot said upon arriving with a pretty east Asian girl. Elliot was wearing blue dress robes and the girl with her was wearing a bright yellow one that reminded Maddy of a sunflower. "This is my girlfriend, Seo-yun Gorre."

Bella gasped excitedly at the word 'girlfriend' and immediately dove into a conversation with the girl, not allowing anyone else to get in a word.

The front doors opened a second time and the Beauxbatons lot began to floor in, at the front was, of course, Fleur Delacour in elegant, sky blue dress robes that appeared to be made of silk. On her arm was a girl in pink dress robes that seemed somewhat familiar, but Maddy couldn't place her finger on who exactly the girl was.

Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here, please!"

Harry and Parvati bid goodbye to the others while Maddy very dramatically sighed and acted as though she was about to die and sending out a final request to get her leg chopped off while Annabeth rolled her eyes and said a normal 'bye' like a normal person.

Professor McGonagall, who was wearing dress robes of red tartan and had arranged a wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat, told them to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; they were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down. Krum and his date stationed themselves nearest the doors, while Fleur and her date were behind them, then Harry and Parvati were third in line and Maddy and Annabeth were last.

Maddy heard Harry gasp and say, " _Hermione_?"

She looked around him and saw that the girl with Fleur was indeed Hermione, though she didn't look like Hermione at all. She had done something with her hair; it was no longer bushy but sleek and shiny, and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and she was holding herself differently, somehow, though it could have been the absence of the twenty or so books she usually had slung over her back. She was also smiling -rather nervously, it was true- but the reduction in the size of her front teeth was more noticeable than ever; Maddy couldn't understand how he hadn't spotted it before.

"Hi, Harry! Hi, Maddy!" she said. "Hi, Parvati! Hi... Annabeth, right?"

"You got it," Annabeth nodded. "You're Hermione, right?"

"Yeah," Hermione confirmed.

Parvati was gazing at Hermione in unflattering disbelief. She wasn't the only one either; when the doors to the Great Hall opened, a group of boys jealousy stalked past, throwing Hermione looks of deepest loathing. Pansy Parkinson gaped at her as she walked by with Malfoy, and even he didn't seem to be able to find an insult to throw at her. Ron, however, walked right past Hermione without looking at her, despite the fact that Bella, Elliot, Lee and Seo-yun were energetically giving her two thumbs up each and Padma was gaping.

Once everyone else was settled in the Hall, Professor McGonagall told the champions and their partners to get in line in pairs and to follow her. They did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as they entered and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting.

The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions approached the top table, but Karkaroff wore a stony expression as he watched Krum and his date draw nearer with narrowed eyes. Ludo Bagman, tonight in robes of bright purple with large yellow stars -the way he dressed was almost as bad a Dumbledore- was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the students; and Madame Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. But Mr Crouch was not there. The fifth seat at the table was occupied by Percy Weasley, who was gesturing that Harry should sit there.

Maddy and Annabeth took the two seats beside Harry and Padma as Percy boasted about being promoted.

"I'm now Mr Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him," he said pompously.

"Why didn't he come?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid to say Mr Crouch isn't well, not well at all. Hasn't been right since the World Cup. Hardly surprising - overwork. He's not as young as he was, though still quite brilliant, of course, the mind remains as great as it ever was. But the World Cup was a fiasco for the whole Ministry, and then, Mr Crouch suffered a huge personal shock with the misbehavior of that house-elf of his, Blinky, or whatever she was called. Naturally, he dismissed her immediately afterward, but, well, as I say, he's getting on, he needs looking after, and I think he's found a definite drop in his home comforts since she left. And then we had the tournament to arrange, and the aftermath of the Cup to deal with, that revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around, no, poor man, he's having a well earned, quiet Christmas. I'm just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to take his place."

"Hey, Percy," Maddy said, "has Crouch stopped calling you Weatherby yet?"

Percy went very red as Harry clearly suppressed a smile.

"I'll have you know that that was a simple slip of the tongue on just the one occasion," he insisted.

"If you say so."

There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were lying in front of each of them. Maddy glanced at hers a little uncertainly and looked around. There were no waiters. Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu, then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!" And pork chops appeared.

Getting the idea, the rest of the table placed their orders with their plates too. Maddy glanced over at Hermione to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining -surely it meant plenty of extra work for the house-elves- but for once, Hermione didn't seem to be thinking about S.E.W. She was deep in talk with Fleur Delacour and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating, though she didn't seem to be in the usual trance that people would fall under around her, they seemed to be having an actual conversation.

"Oh, Hogwarts is quite nice, but Beauxbatons, well I'm sorry if this sounds a bit too harsh, but it is just beautiful especially this time of year," Fleur was saying. "We have many ice sculptures around the dining chamber at Christmas, which of course do not melt. We have choirs of wood nymphs who serenade us while we eat. I would love to show you one day, Hermione, however I am afraid that I would probably be unable to do that as we are not able to bring in guests unless there is a special event."

"That's a shame, but I imagine you could describe it perfectly," Hermione smiled and Fleur launched into a colourful explanation of the French wizarding school.

Past the two of them, Maddy saw Viktor Krum listening to the girl who had gone with him excitedly chatter while he repeatedly glanced over at Hermione.

"Do you think I could get a better look at this place?" Annabeth asked Maddy looking around at the walls of the Great Hall. "I've always wanted to look at a castle..."

"I might be able to give you a tour," Maddy offered. "It's all pretty neat. Although, you'll have to watch out for trick stairs. There are kind of a lot of them and you will sink through them."

"Why would those be made?"

"Honestly, I think whoever designed this place just wanted everyone here to have the hardest lives possible."

When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall.

A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it. The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn.

Maddy and Annabeth exchanged amused looks at the appearance of the band.

They picked up their instruments and all of the champions and their partners stood up -Harry was a little delayed.

The Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune and Maddy walked onto the brightly lit dance floor, carefully avoiding catching anyone's eye. She, along with the others, began to dance. She was very awkward and honestly didn't even know what she was doing. Annabeth was surprisingly good and was guiding the younger demigod.

Soon many of the others had come onto the dance floor, so that the champions were no longer the center of attention. Neville and Ginny were dancing nearby and Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime. He was so dwarfed by her that the top of his pointed hat barely tickled her chin; however, she moved very gracefully for a woman so large. Mad-Eye Moody was doing an extremely ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra, who was nervously avoiding his wooden leg. He muttered something to Harry and then moved on. Elliot and Seo-yun were dancing very well not too far away.

When the song finally ended, Maddy immediately let go of Annabeth and they fled off of the dance floor as Harry and Parvati did the same thing and Bella and Lee got onto the dance floor, dancing very erratically while laughing happily.

The four of them joined Ron and Padma at their empty table. Ron looked sullen and Padma looked disappointed.

"How's it going?" Harry as Ron.

He didn't reply, he just glared and Hermione and Fleur who were dancing nearby. Padma was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, one foot jiggling in time to the music. Every now and then she threw a disgruntled look at Ron, who was completely ignoring her. Parvati sat down on Harry's other side, crossed her arms and legs too, and within minutes was asked to dance by a boy from Beauxbatons.

"You don't mind, do you Harry?" She asked.

"No, go ahead," he replied.

Hermione came over and sat down in Parvati's empty chair. She was a bit pink in the face from dancing.

"Hi," said Harry. Ron didn't say anything while Maddy and Annabeth gave small waves.

"It's hot, isn't it?" said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand. "Fleur's just gone to get some drinks."

Ron gave her a withering look. "Fleur?" he said. "Hasn't she asked you to call her some stupid nickname yet?"

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "What's up with you?" she said.

"If you don't know," said Ron scathingly, "I'm not going to tell you." Hermione stared at him, then at the others, who all shrugged.

"Ron, what-?"

"She's from Beauxbatons!" He spat. "She's competing against Harry! Against Maddy! Against Hogwarts! You - you're-" Ron was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Hermione's crime, " _fraternizing with the enemy_ , that's what you're doing!"

Hermione's mouth fell open. "Don't be so stupid!" she said after a moment. "The enemy! Honestly, who was the one who practically fell head-over-heels for her on sight? And need I remind you about when you, yes _you_ , _Ronald_ , asked Fleur out! Besides, you're obsessed with Krum, you've even got a model of him up in your dormitory!"

Ron began to splutter turning red before he stammered out, "What happened? Trying to get her to join sew, were you?"

"For your information, she approached me and asked me what it was and she's joined."

"Yeah, well that's her story."

"What - what's that supposed to mean!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Well, she knows that you're actively looking for what the egg means, I bet she's just trying to figure out what it means!"

Hermione just stared at Ron like he was an idiot, turned around with a huff and walked over to the refreshments table.

"Wow, Ron, you are being stupid," Maddy said. "I'm going to go take Annabeth on a tour of the castle, see ya later, nerds. Come on, wise girl, let's look at some architecture."

Annabeth stood up and the two of them walked out of the Great Hall.

"So, there's some turmoil with your friends," Annabeth noted.

"Yeah, there always is," Maddy sighed. "Ron's pretty... edgy?... about things. It'll blow over soon. It pretty much happens once a year."

The two walked through the castle, talking about things that had been happening recently.

"I've been thinking about getting my hair cut," Maddy said as Annabeth inspected the hallways leading to Ravenclaw Tower.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Well, it's starting to get in the way, especially since I won't be getting any breaks anytime soon, not to mention the fact that everytime my hair gets wet it drags on the ground, so washing it is pretty much impossible. Also, have you not seen it since that dragon attacked me?" She pointed at her currently lopsided hair. "Which, is pretty much just an excuse, _but_ if I cut my hair so it won't cover my eye anymore it will freak everyone out and that is awesome. I wonder what Rita Skeeter would say about it..."

"Who?"

"A reporter. She's covering the Triwizard Tournament and she pretty much just writes lies and it can be very funny."

"Well then you should do it, there's probably someone here who can do haircuts, right?" Annabeth asked as the two started walking again.

Maddy shrugged. "I bet Elliot could do it if I paid her enough... or did enough of her homework. She's pretty much an expert at everything... I don't care enough about it to do that, though."

"Well, it sounds like a good idea. I doubt that there isn't someone else who could do it without such high prices."

"Yeah, I mean, probably, El's prices are _way_ too steep for things... _Anyways_ , cool school, right?"

"I would _kill_ to live in a place like this and not because of the magic... or the stairs. Those are _evil_."

"An apt description if I've ever heard one," Maddy chuckled.

* * *

Just before midnight and the Yule Ball ended, Maddy quickly took Annabeth back to Camp Half Blood and, exhausted, landed outside of the school and quickly went back inside. Harry, Ron, Bella and Elliot were exiting the Great Hall and Seo-yun was dragging herself in the direction of the dungeons ahead of them.

"Where've you been?" Bella asked.

"Giving Annabeth a tour," Maddy yawned. "Did I miss anything interesting?"

"YES! You missed me throwing confetti on everything and everyone!"

So that's what that confetti was for...

"Hagrid's part giant," Elliot replied boredly. "Not surprising, he's massive."

"Alright, cool, I guess..." Maddy said.

Hermione, who had just finished saying goodbye to Fleur, gave Ron a very cold look as she swept past them, waving to the other three as she did so.

"Maddy!" Someone shouted, and she turned to see the Hunter of Artemis from Beauxbatons, Circe MacBeth. " _Salut_ , Maddy, can I talk to you in private?"

"Why...?" Maddy asked as the others looked at the two of them confusedly.

"Great, come with me!" Circe smiled stiffly, grabbed Maddy by the arm and dragged her off.

"What are you doing?" Maddy asked flatly as this was happening.

"Hold on, skull face, we're gonna find an empty place so no one eavesdrops... okay, this looks good." She kicked open the door of an unused classroom and then shut it after Maddy entered. "Alright, now, I can say that you _need_ to leave before the second task."

"First of all, I can't, I tried to leave for this and I was just pulled right back here, dreadfully inconvenient, that is. Secondly, I have my own reasoning for knowing that I have to leave, but what's yours?"

"Okay, so I may or may not have heard some adults talking about the next task and while I have almost no information about it, I know that it involves swimming in that big ass lake out there, that is definitely big enough for your uncle to kill you in."

"Yeah, I figured I'd have to do that... Did you happen to hear what would happen if someone were to spontaneously lose a limb?"

"No, but I assume that you wouldn't have to compete, depending on which limb and how many of them you lost. But there are probably better ways to go about getting out of this situation, although for you it's really a 'go big or go home' type scenario."

"Yep, is that all or...?"

"No, I also heard that you need to put your gold egg in water and then stick your head in there with it and that is how you hear it in English instead of weird demonic screeches."

"Thanks, Circe," Maddy sighed, "I don't care what my voice sounds like right now but I am entirely sincere I am just _so_ tired, I probably sound sarcastic, it's ridiculous. Now, if you find anything else, tell me, but I am going to sleep right now. Also, tell me if you know anyone who will cut hair, preferably for free and not necessarily well, just make sure they won't kill me while doing it. Now farewell, lady MacBeth, I'm going to go now." She forced herself to stop babbling and just lazily waltzed out of the room without letting Circe reply and headed straight to the Slytherin common room, her friend having already left.

* * *

The next day, pretty much everyone slept late and then spent their time awake either starting or finishing their homework for the break. Ron and Hermione had apparently come to a truce, though they treaded carefully around each other. Hermione wasn't at all surprised about the article on Hagrid that Rita Skeeter had published because of course she did. She apparently was some sort of omniscient being because she knew absolutely everything it was nuts. Maddy also told Harry about what they would need to do to understand the clue.

"But where would be get a small body of water big enough for a head and an egg?" Harry asked. "We only have showers, at least in the Gryffindor boy's bathrooms."

"We only have showers too," Maddy sighed.

"Prefects bathroom," Elliot said.

"What about them?" Harry asked.

"They're supposed to be really nice! I bet with just a little hanging around you'd be able to find out the password. Seo has a fifth year friend and I've asked him what the prefects bathrooms are like and he said that they all have these huge bathtubs in them and it smells nice and it's all just great."

"Wow, sounds like a plan, thanks El," Maddy said.

"I have to go with you though."

Maddy and Harry rolled their eyes.

Snow was still thick upon the grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that they couldn't see out of them in Herbology. Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures much in this weather, though as Ron said, the skrewts would probably warm them up nicely, either by chasing them, or blasting off so forcefully that Hagrid's cabin would catch fire.

The latter one is the one Maddy was rooting for.

When they arrived at Hagrid's cabin, however, they found an elderly witch with closely cropped gray hair and a very prominent chin standing before his front door.

"Who the hell is that?" Bella asked in an embarrassingly loud voice. As soon as she noticed how loud she had been her face flushed bright red and she quickly said, " _Oh_ that was loud, I'm _sorry_!"

The woman gave her a disapproving look and barked out, "Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago."

"Who're you?" said Ron, staring at her. "Where's Hagrid?"

"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly. "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed," said Professor Grubbly-Plank shortly.

"What, are we in spy movie?" Maddy asked. "Who says 'indisposed?'"

Soft and unpleasant laughter drifted up to them. They turned and saw Draco Malfoy and several other Slytherins were joining the class. All of them looked gleeful, and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"He definitely did something," Maddy said in an undertone.

"This way, please," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, and she strode off around the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses were shivering. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella and Maddy followed her, looking back over their shoulders at Hagrid's cabin. All the curtains were closed. Was Hagrid in there, alone and ill?

"What's wrong with Hagrid?" Harry said, hurrying to catch up with Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Never you mind," she said as though she thought he was being nosy.

"I do mind, though," said Harry hotly. "What's up with him?"

Professor Grubbly-Plank acted as though she couldn't hear him. She led them past the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons horses were standing, huddled against the cold, and toward a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

Many people ' _ooooohed!'_ at the sight of the unicorn.

"Oh it's so beautiful!" whispered Lavender Brown. "How did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch!"

The unicorn was so brightly white it made the snow all around look gray. It was pawing the ground nervously with its golden hooves and throwing back its horned head.

"Boys keep back!" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, throwing out an arm and catching Harry hard in the chest. "They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, come on, easy does it..."

All the girl began to move up, except Maddy who stayed behind with the boys.

"Why aren't you going up?" Ron asked.

"And get _skewered_?" Maddy asked. "Fuck no."

"It's a unico-"

"It. _Will._ _Skewer. Me._ "

"What d'you reckon's wrong with him?" Harry, who had previously been staring at Hagrid's cabin, turned to the other two. "You don't think the skrewts-"

"Oh he hasn't been attacked, Potter, if that's what you're thinking," said Malfoy softly. "No, he's just too ashamed to show his big, ugly face."

"What d'you mean?" said Harry sharply.

"Harry, the article, we haven't seen him since that was published, it's probably been absolute Hades on him," Maddy whispered.

"Right..."

Malfoy smirked and drawled out, "Exactly, Mender. I expect it should put an end to the oaf 's teaching career. Half-giant... and there was me thinking he'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was young... None of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all... They'll be worried he'll eat their kids, ha, ha..."

"You-" Harry started.

"Are you paying attention over there?" Professor Grubbly-Plank's voice carried over to the boys; the girls were all clustered around the unicorn now, stroking it.

"I hope she stays, that woman!" said Parvati Patil when the lesson had ended and they were all heading back to the castle for lunch. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like... proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters..."

"What about Hagrid?" Harry said angrily as they went up the steps.

"What about him?" said Parvati in a hard voice. "He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?

Parvati had been very cool toward Harry since the ball. She was also telling anybody who would listen that she had made arrangements to meet the boy from Beauxbatons in Hogsmeade on the next weekend trip.

"That was a really good lesson," said Hermione as they entered the Great Hall. "I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about unicorns, you really should have gone up there, Maddy."

"One of my many life philosophies is to never go near any any animals that can kill me, whether on accident or on purpose, by just turning their heads," she replied. "Also, unicorns are like the opposite of me, they're from horses, which Poseidon made and all hate me, and they're basically just the epitome of purity. I'm a daughter of Hades, which means that I am the opposite of purity. It would have either killed me or horribly injured me not close enough to the next task."

"Maddy, don't mutilate yourself to try to get out of the next task, magical prosthetics and quick healing exists."

"We've got to go see Hagrid this evening!" Harry exclaimed. "This evening, after Divination. Tell him we want him back... you _do_ want him back?" he shot at Hermione.

"I - well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once - but I do want Hagrid back, of course I do!" Hermione added hastily, quailing under Harry's furious stare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no editing because I'm a lazy fUCK, also I'm tired.


	10. The Second Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's up guys??? Yesterday was my 16th birthday so yay, also today I got the BIGGEST FUCKING STUFFED SHEEP EVER AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH OH MY GOD, anyways, enjoy!

 

After dinner, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella and Maddy set out to see Hagrid. They knocked, and Fang's booming barks answered.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door. "Open up!"

Hagrid didn't answer. They could hear Fang scratching at the door, whining, but it didn't open. They hammered on it for ten more minutes; Ron and Bella even went and banged on some of the windows, but there was no response.

"What's he avoiding _us_ for?" Hermione said when they had finally given up and were walking back to the school. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being half-giant?"

"Gods damn it Hagrid!" Bella shouted. "You know how weird we all are! We don't care if you're half giant, we know you're a harmless cinnamon roll! Let us in!" There was still no response. "Okay, I'm going to kick down th door, Maddy, tell Fang to move back, you can do that, right?"

"Yeah..." Maddy replied.

"Bella, no," Hermione said. "We should just give him time to calm down."

"Oh, fine..." she sighed.

* * *

Elliot and Maddy were waiting outside the Slytherin common room for Harry so they could stake out by one of the prefects bathrooms, Maddy had her egg in her arms and Elliot was holding a roll of parchment, a quill and an inkwell in order to write down whatever the eggs said.

"There he is," Elliot said as a skinny, black haired kid rounded a corner. "Hurry up, Harry, we won't be able to effectively hide by a prefects bathroom without your invisibility cloak!"

"Don't be so loud about it!" Harry exclaimed as he drew nearer and Maddy swatted her in the back of the head.

"It's too late now, either way, hurry up!"

"Calm down, Elliot," Harry said as he took a quick look around and threw his invisibility cloak over himself and Elliot.

"Hey, no, I'm going under there too," Maddy said, feeling around for cloak and then throwing it up over her when she finally grasped it.

"Why?"

"I don't feel like trying to follow you two without being able to see you."

"Fair point," he shrugged. "Do either of you know where a prefects bathroom _is_?"

"Nope," Elliot replied.

"I do," Maddy added and the other two looked at her. "Okay, I know it's weird for me to know something magic or Hogwarts related that Elliot doesn't know but don't look so surprised. I asked Peregrine this morning."

"You told Peregrine Derrick about what we're doing?"

"No, I just brought up the fact that I had no idea where the prefects bathrooms were and I was curious and you know how Peregrine loves to show everyone up so she listed out all of there locations. I asked what the password was but Lucian had to butt in and stop her."

"Nice going, Mads." Elliot grinned and Maddy gave her a quick thumbs up before she started to lead them to the nearest prefect's bathroom.

They only had to keep an eye out for about an hour before one if the Hufflepuff prefects went in and then emerged again only a minute later.

"Pine fresh," Harry said when the cost was clear and the statue blocking the entrance moved out of the way. The three fourth years entered the bathroom, throwing off the invisibility cloak as they did so.

"Whoa," Maddy said upon seeing the frankly giant room.

It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred  
golden taps stood all around the pools edges, each with a differently colored Jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.

"That's it, I'm going to be a prefect," Elliot stated as she put down her supplies and bolted the door.

"Er, so how are we going to do this?" Harry asked awkwardly, blushing.

"The obvious way," Maddy said matter-of-factly. "Fill up the tub and stick our heads in. We listen to the eggs one at a time. What the Hades did you think we were going to do? Strip down and hop in the bathtub just to list to two stupid screeching eggs?"

"Right," Harry sighed. "Of course. But why do we have to listen to both of the eggs?"

"In case they say something different, then we could mash them together and it'll be easier to figure out what exactly we're doing. Now let's get those taps running."

"Don't use any of the cool bubbles!" Elliot called from the opposite end of the bathroom where she was inspecting one of the sinks. "They have a strong perfume-y smell, everyone'll know you've used the tub here. Either that or they'll think you dunked your heads in a bucket of feminine hygiene products -not pads, smelly lotions and shampoos and stuff."

"Thanks for the input Elliot," Maddy rolled her eyes as she started one of the jets of water. "We were _definitely_ going to fill the tub up with bubbles and get them all in our face."

"Shut up, Maddy, also, you should put your hair up, I know how long it takes that mess to dry."

"Thanks again, Elliot," Maddy said as she pulled Elliot's scarf off of her. "I'll just use your scarf to protect it!"

"If it's ruined you have to buy me a new one..."

"Don't the house elves get you a knew one?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but I'm still going to make Maddy pay for it."

"Yeah, sure," Maddy scoffed and she opened up the scrap all the way and wrapped it around her head to keep your hair from getting wet.

A few minutes later the tub was suitably filled up and Harry was holding his egg under the water with his sleeve pushed back, Maddy was sitting beside him, fiddling with scarf to make sure it was tight enough and Elliot had her quill at the ready a few feet away from them in order to avoid getting any water on her.

"I swear to all the gods, if this still gives out that horrible screech I will loose my mind," Maddy said as she finished up her last adjustments. "Ready, Harry?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

They both dunked their heads under the water and Harry fumbled to open up the clasp at the top of the egg.

Maddy had brace herself just incase but was pleasantly surprised to hear a serenade of a small number of soft, silky voices eerily singing:

_"Come seek us where our voices sound,_

_We cannot sing above the ground,_

_And while you're searching, ponder this:_

_We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_

_An hour long you'll have to look,_

_And to recover what we took,_

_But past an hour- the prospect's black,_

_Too late, it's gone, it wont come back."_

Harry and Maddy both shot back up and the latter told every word back to Elliot, who quickly scribbled it down.

"Harry, grab mine now," Maddy said as he set his egg on the ground.

Harry grabbed the dry egg and placed it in the tub and the two repeated their actions for the first egg.

They emerged from the water almost as soon as the egg had been open, having figured out that they said the same thing.

"Okay, so there is a reason to go into the lake now," Maddy said. "Still not liking it though."

"How are we supposed to breath?" Harry asked.

"...A very long snorkel..."

"We can think about those things later, come on, I'll dry you off, I want to get to Hogsmeade before everyone has to come back," Elliot stood up and pulled out her wand. She cast a quick spell on the other two and they dried off almost completely, then she ran out of the bathroom without saying goodbye.

"Library?" Maddy asked.

"I was going to go to Hogsmeade..." Harry replied awkwardly.

"Alright, it's fine, I can get to work on how to swim. Because I don't know how to do that. They have books for how to swim, right? _Swimming for Dummies_? That's a thing, right?"

"I really don't know," Harry shrugged, "I'll talk to Hermione while I'm in Hogsmeade."

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

* * *

About an hour later, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Bella entered the library, the two girls fuming and the boys looking at them warily.

"Whaaaaat happened?" Maddy asked as they sat down.

"They got in a fight with Rita Skeeter," Ron said.

"Awesome!"

"I also almost kicked Dumbledore," Bella added. "Kinda terrifying."

"Wait, what?"

"We went to go see Hagrid again and I was going to kick down the door, then Dumbledore opened it. My foot went right by his torso."

"What was the fight with Rita Skeeter about?" Maddy asked.

"Hagrid," Harry replied.

"She was pestering Harry about him and just being so rude and bigoted," Hermione huffed.

"Okay, that's cool," Maddy nodded, "but can we now work on the second task because I'm actually panicking now..."

"Right, yes, of course," Hermione grabbed one of the books that Maddy had stacked up on the table."

* * *

From then on out, Maddy, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Bella and, on occasion Fleur Delacour as well, worked on the second task. Fleur wasn't there much since she felt that she could research it fine on her own, so it was clear that she mostly helped them out so she could hang out with Hermione while the latter spent all her free time in the library.

So far, they hadn't had much luck with anything. They couldn't find any way to let themselves breath underwater, or anything else that would help them other than a spell that would make their objects stick to the ground, which the three of them would be doing the night before the second task.

On the night before the second task, the six of them were spread out on two different tables, surrounded by books that they were all blowing through, in a desperate search for anything that could possibly help them.

"I don't reckon it can be done," said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing. _Nothing_. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."

"Maybe if we all do it..." Bella yawned.

"There must be something," Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of _Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes_ with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."

"They have," said Ron. "Harry, Maddy, Fleur, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."

"I'm for it," Maddy said, her face laying on table as she held a book up sideways for her to read.

"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!" She seemed to be taking the library's lack of useful information on the subject as a personal insult; it had never failed her before.

"I know what I should have done," said Harry, resting, face down, on _Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts_. "I should've learned to be an Animagus."

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" said Ron.

"Or a frog," yawned Harry.

"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything," said Hermione vaguely, now squinting down the index of _Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions_. "Professor McGonagall told us, remember... you've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office... what animal you become, and your markings, so you can't abuse it..."

"Hermione, I was joking," said Harry wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning..."

"Maybe I can get my uncle to turn us into sea creatures, I bet he'd love that," Maddy added.

"That's better than everything else we've found," Fleur sighed, looking out the window. "It's getting late, I'm going to take some of these books with me back to Beauxbatons carriage."

"Goodnight, Fleur," Hermione flipped the page of her book and Fleur gave her a quick kiss on the head before sweeping out of the library with a pile of books in her arms.

"Oh this is no use," Hermione said, snapping shut _Weird Wizarding Dilemmas_. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?" Harry, Ron, Maddy, Bella and Hermione looked up. Fred and George had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked.

"Looking for you," said George. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."

"Why?" said Hermione, looking surprised.

"Dunno... she was looking a bit grim, though," said Fred.

"We're supposed to take you down to her office," said George. Ron and Hermione stared at Harry and Maddy, both of whom were filled with dread at the prospect of losing two more of their research team.

"We'll meet you back in the common room," Hermione told Harry as she got up to go with Ron, both of them looked very anxious. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"

"Right," said Harry uneasily.

"See you tomorrow, Maddy, good luck."

"Yeah," Maddy said nervously.

By eight o'clock, Madam Pince had extinguished all the lamps and came to chivvy the remaining three of them out of the library. Harry and Bella were both holding a plethora of books while Maddy held none.

"Are you sure you don't want any books?" Bella asked.

"Nah, I'm too tired," Maddy shrugged. "I'll just do what I've been saying and cut off as many of my body parts as I can. I won't have to go in at all then."

* * *

Maddy walked to the Great Hall the next morning with Elliot, the former panicking a great deal while that latter boredly tried to calm her down to no avail.

"Elliot, my uncle is going to _kill_ me," Maddy exclaimed, nervously wringing the bottom of her camp shirt in her hands.

"Oh my god, Mads, can't you just talk to your cousin and ask him to get Poseidon to chill for like two hours?"

"Ahhhh!" Maddy screeched. "That is so _obvious_! How did I _not think of that! Gods damn it, I'm such a moron!"_

"Yes, you are, now calm down, and talk to the guy," Elliot said, pushing Maddy into a nearby empty room.

"Sanctus," Maddy waved her wand and a rainbow shot out of it. She then tossed a drachma from her pocket into it and said, "Oh, Iris, goddess of rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Percy Jackson."

Nothing happened.

"Okay... something's wrong... I'll try Annabeth..." Maddy fished out another drachma and threw it into the rainbow. "Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Annabeth Chase."

The rainbow shimmered and then revealed a dark room, focusing on a sleeping figure.

"Annabeth," Maddy hissed, trying not to be to loud so the other children of Athena wouldn't be woken up.

"Huh?" Annabeth began to stir and sat up when she saw the Iris Message. "What is it, Maddy? It's two in the morning."

"Sorry, but I just tried to IM Percy and it didn't work."

" _What!_ "

"Yeah, so do you have any idea about what is up with that?"

" _No_."

"Okay, so my plan is not going to work anymore... I would be more worried about Percy right now, but I'm about to be subjected to my death. If I die, Bella will IM you. See you later, maybe. Probably not." Maddy swiped her hand through the image, causing it to disappear, without waiting for a response from Annabeth, who looked very panicked. "To the kitchens!"

"So you're going through with cutting off your legs?" Elliot asked.

"Yep."

The two then exited the empty classroom and backtracked some to go into the kitchen. Maddy grabbed one of the larger knives, shrunk it down to fit in her pocket so she do her plan at a time when she could get medical attention immediately afterwards and they entered the Great Hall.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table, where Bella was sitting alone and nervously scanning the crowd.

"Where're Harry and Ron and Hermione?" Maddy asked.

"No clue," Bella grimaced. "He wasn't in the common room this morning, which is where at least _I_ fell asleep and Hermione and Ron never came back from McGonagall's."

"It's a conspiracy!" Elliot exclaimed.

There was a pause before Bella turned to face Maddy and said, "How're you doing?"

"You know, the usual," she shrugged, "actively holding back tears, my heart might explode, I think my stomach is a literal knot, I might end up disgorging my intestines and I have a knife stabbing my leg _right_ now that I need to move." Maddy shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out the knife, placing it onto the table.

" _Why_ , Maddy? _Why_ do you have a knife in your pocket? That is a _tiny kitchen_ knife."

"I shrunk it down so I can use it to cut off my appendages at the right time."

"Okay, give me that and your spear pendant," Bella held out her hand.

"No."

"Give me all your weapons _now_."

"No way in Hades or the Roman version," Maddy stated.

"You mean Pluto?" Elliot asked.

"No, Hades, while being the name of my father, is also another name for the Underworld."

"Oh."

"Are you missing anything?" Bella asked.

"No, nothing," Maddy shrugged.

"Strange..."

"Champions!" Dumbledore announced from his spot at the staff table. "You must go to the lake within the next fifteen minutes!"

Maddy let out a strange, strangled sound of horror as she tried to pocket the knife again but found it to be gone, Bella had put it in her own pocket. "I'm going to die," she sniffed. "I - this is my death here. I always knew I would die early but I never thought it would be when I was at a school that I never had to deal with demigod stuff at - _and it's because demigod stuff_. _Auggggg_."

"Alright, come on, Maddy," Bella climbed over to the other side of the table to grab and drag the daughter of Hades, who would not have moved otherwise, all the way down to the lake.

"I hate you."

"Yeah, I figured."

"When I die, tell my family."

"You got it, buddy," Bella said as they approached the lake. "You should talk to Fleur, she might have gotten something last night. Now, I _will_ see you in an hour, _alive_ , and I will get your dad to either bring you back or attack Poseidon."

"Get him to attack Poseidon, that one's better."

"I figured you'd say that. I'm going to go find a seat now, _don't cut off your limbs_."

"Not making any promises," Maddy said as she joined the other champions as well as a few staff member. All of the champions were there, except Harry.

"Good morning, Maddy," Fleur waved weakly, looking nervous.

"Morning. Any luck last night because I had none."

"Yes, I did," she nodded. "It's called the Bubble Head Charm. The incantation is _capabullatis_. You should practice before we have to get in the water."

"Oh my gods, _thank you_ , Fleur, thank you."

"No problem, good luck."

Maddy moved over to an emptier area and began to practice the Bubble Head Charm. It wasn't that difficult, after a dozen or so repetitions of the spell she managed to effectively cast it almost every time.

And still, Harry hadn't arrived yet.

Maddy joined the others by the judges table, where the headmasters were sitting, as well as Ludo Bagman and, instead of Mr Crouch, Percy Weasley was there again.

"Where's Mr Crouch?" Maddy asked Percy.

"He's a very busy man," Percy said.

"Okay, but-"

"I won't say anything more about it as it is none of your business."

After another few minutes, Harry came running up, looking exhausted and holding something in his hand. "I'm... here.." he panted.

"Where have you been?" Percy demanded. "The task's about to start!"

"Now, now, Percy!" said Ludo Bagman, who was looking intensely relieved to see Harry. "Let him catch his breath!"

Harry bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

"Harry, have you got a plan?" Maddy whispered to him.

"Yeah, have you?"

"Yup."

"Does it involve cutting off your limbs?"

"That's a backup plan, Harry, don't be an idiot."

"Come on, Maddy," Bagman called good naturedly. "Come stand over here." He pointed to a spot in front of him that was about two feet away from Fleur.

"Good luck, Harry," she said as she walked over to Bagman, who then began to walk over to Harry and talk to him. After he finished talking to Harry, he returned to his spot at the judges table and Harry stood about two feet away from Maddy.

Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said, " _Sonorus_!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands. "Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle." Maddy suddenly had the severe urge to run far, far away, paired with the sudden feeling of something cold dropping in her stomach and her heart having rapid spasms. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One... two... three!"

A whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, Maddy pulled off her shoes and socks, pulled her wand out of her pocket, shakily aimed it at herself and said, " _Capabullatis._ "

A bubble quickly formed around her head and she took in a deep air of breath and stepped into the water.

It was so cold it hurt. Her pants were getting wetter and wetter and, needless to say, more uncomfortable by the second.

She could hear people in the crowd laughing and figured that she looked like a complete moron, which wasn't surprising to her, she felt like one somewhere under the many layers of anxiety and despair.

Maddy looked around and saw Harry waded in just beside her, he didn't seem to have anything to do to help him and seemed to think that the more he chewed on something in his mouth, the better it would help.

They waved at each other before there was a sudden, small dip in the ground and Maddy's head went underwater, alarming her and making her splutter out a series of curses.

She began to slowly force herself forward more, looking around to see _how_ to swim, since she still didn't understand that.

After a few minutes, Harry shot past her, but there was something off about him. Maddy couldn't tell what it was since he swam past her so quickly, although, thankfully, she caught the gist of his movement and tried to mimic it.

She wasn't moving very fast and felt certain that she couldn't get very far within the hour that she had. Especially since after only five minutes of swimming small waves somehow started to push against her. Maddy thought that lakes didn't really get lots of consecutive waves, which just got stronger and stronger as she swam.

At one point there was such a strong wave that it popped her air bubble. Water surged into Maddy's lungs and she tried her best to swim up above the water. When she succeeded she began to cough and hack, trying to get the water out of her lungs, which was really hard when trying to stay up against water that was _trying to drown her and only her_. It was definitely Poseidon's doing since the only part of the lake that wasn't still and calm was the ten foot radius around her.

"Cap _-Capabullatis!"_ she spluttered through mouth full of water.

Maddy submerged herself underwater, hoping that the deeper she went the less severe it would be, she was pretty sure that that was how the worked, but apparently not when you've got the god of the sea against you. Quite the opposite of that, actually.

Her bubble popped again, and this time she was just barely able to get her head above water, not because of the depth she had been at, but because the surface water was actually _pushing her down_.

Maddy cast the Bubble Head Charm again just as she was pushed down by a huge wave. She was pushed farther and farther down, closer to the floor of the lake, and her bubble popped far earlier than the other two times.

Her vision was going black, she could breath and she couldn't go up.

She was going to die. Just like she thought.

Maddy was panicking even more than before, especially when she hit the ground. She tried to dig her fingers into the earth at least, but she couldn't. She didn't have enough strength left.

Everything went black and she no longer felt anything.


	11. The Interrogation

At first everything was just blurs and murmurs. Then, it all got sharper, more defined. Maddy could hear panicked speech, all overlapping with each other, and six people standing over here; Bella, Elliot, a soaking wet Harry, Hermione and Ron and, for some reason, Percy Jackson.

"Maddy!" Hermione and Bella exclaimed tearfully, the both of them hugging the daughter of Hades tightly.

Maddy coughed and spluttered out, "Hermione! Bella! Let go!"

"Sorry," Hermione said, withdrawing from the hug.

"Yeah..." Bella added bashfully.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"What happened?" Ron added.

"I'm fine... and all I have to say about what happened is my uncle's a dick," there was a sharp rumble, "and speaking of my uncle, Percy, what the Hades are you doing here? I tried to get in contact with you this morning and it didn't work. Annabeth's going ballistic."

"I can explain that later," Percy said surprisingly sharply. "What were you doing in such a huge body of water?"

"It was completely against my will, you know how much I hate water. Did you pull me out?"

"Sort of?"

"What do you mean, 'sort of?'" Maddy asked.

"Well, you kinda summoned like a dozen skeletons when you were in the lake, they couldn't get out themselves, but I managed to clear away the water," Percy explained. "Which means that your entire school watched you get carried out of the lake by a bunch of skeletons and me wandlessly moving water and then extracting water from your lungs."

Maddy stared at Percy for a minute before slowly saying, "...Fuuuuck..."

"Yep," Bella nodded. "By the way your going to have to explain to Dumbledore and someone in the DMLE that isn't your mum what happened and how it happened. And I know this won't be a very popular decision, but do you want to go to Azkaban for performing dark magic or let the wizarding world know about the existence of gods?"

"Well, there's _got_ to be some other way to explain than dark magic or the truth," Maddy said.

"Nothing that works in the wizarding world," Hermione said, "wandless magic isn't taught until seventh year and I don't even think it's possible to do magic as strong as necromancy without a wand and yours wasn't in your hand."

"Yeah, you need a wand for necromancy," Elliot confirmed. "And they'll probably check your wand for which spells you've casted and then probably use occlumency to see what it really was as a last resort or precaution, I'm not really sure if they do it every time or not, so do with that information what you will."

"So, basically there's no way for me to get around this?"

"Yup."

"I knew I should have just cut off my legs... So anyways, how did you do, Harry?"

"Er, I don't know... scores haven't been announced yet, they're waiting to speak with you," Harry replied.

"Oh, goody, Percy, help me stand up, I should just get this over with," Maddy held out her arms and Percy hoisted her up onto her feet.

"You should take it slow, Maddy," Hermione said.

"Nah," Maddy decided.

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked. "The DMLE member won't get here for another ten minutes at least."

"Well, I can tell the judges to just give me all zeros because I don't give a damn."

"Ah, miss Mender, I see you are up again."

Maddy turned around to see Dumbledore standing behind her.

"Uh, yeah. Hello, professor," she said awkwardly.

"You should have a quick check in with Madam Pomfrey, as should you three," Dumbledore added to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Okay, will do, Professor," Bella said quickly and steered Maddy in the direction of where Madam Pomfrey was placed, looking at a few cuts that Fleur, who was worriedly glancing over at the group around Maddy, had received.

Madam Pomfrey gave the Maddy, Ron, Harry and Hermione a potion to keep them from getting a cold or any other sickness from the coldness of the lake, she was also going to wrap them up, but found them to be dry (most likely thanks to Percy).

"Hermione," Fleur said. "You have a water beetle in your hair. I'll get it." She plucked a small thing out of Hermione's hair and flicked it away.

"Thank you, Fleur," she beamed.

Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious looking female. He was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish.

Eventually a faintly familiar woman walked over to him and waited until he was finished with his conversation. When he did finish the two of them had a quick conversation and then Maddy was suddenly being led up to Dumbledore's office with Dumbledore, the Ministry woman -who had introduced herself as Nereida Bloom, who had been there in Maddy's second year for the inspection of the Chamber of Secrets- and Ludo Bagman.

"Cockroach cluster," Dumbledore said when they reached the stone gargoyle statue that lead up to his office.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk once they got into the office, Ms Bloom stood behind his desk while Mr Bagman sat in one of the two chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk beside Maddy.

"So, Miss Mender," Ms Bloom began, "I understand that you, er, performed an advanced form of skeletal necromancy."

"I guess..." Maddy said slowly. "I didn't do it on purpose, though. I was unconscious when it happened. Also, um, the lake tried to kill me... like actually kill me, the lake _physically_ tried to drown me. I just feel like that's just an important piece of information for this."

"It... tried to drown you?" Mr Bagman asked. "You know what, we'll come back to that when we've finished with the necromancy stuff."

"I believe we should begin with an inspection of her wand," Ms Bloom said stiffly.

"Come now, Nereida," Mr Bagman interjected, "at least give her a chance to explain herself."

"No, it's fine, go ahead and see my wand, no necromancy spells on there..." Maddy held out her wand and then added under her breath, "which is the tip of the iceberg of confusing and uncomfortable exposition."

" _Prior Incantato_!" Ms Bloom waved Maddy's wand and a bubble formed around her head.

"See?"

"There's one more spell we can use. _Carmina Gloria_."

A colourful burst emerged from to tip of Maddy's lightly coloured wand. The burst unfurled laid itself out straight across the room, there were knots in it every few inches. Ms Bloom tapped on the ten most recent spells, all of them after the cluster of Bubblehead Charms were just very simple, everyday spells.

"Wandless magic is near impossible for a fourteen year old..." Ms Bloom said thoughtfully. "And based on your not particularly great performance of the Bubblehead Charm, it popped multiple times if what I've heard is true."

"Yeah, but I'm blaming the lake for that," Maddy replied. "I'm not great at magic, but yeah, that wasn't exactly magic that let me do the skeleton raising thing..."

"It wasn't magic?" Mr Bagman sat forward interested.

"Elaborate, Miss Mender," Ms Bloom demanded, looking incredibly interested, while Dumbledore looked interested too, there was also a layer of semi-understanding.

"So, I don't really know how to do this lightly, I've never been very good at explaining or revealing stuff, so instead of just slowly working into the information like what most people do I'm just going to say it," Maddy paused and took in a deep breath. "And I am saying it now..." Instead of actually saying it she just awkwardly sat. "And I'm actually not saying it... you could just ask my mom instead, she knows, I bet she's better at this than I am."

"Your mother is away on a business trip, besides she isn't allowed in here for the time being seeing as she is biased and could steer the decision in an untrue way," Ms Bloom said.

"That seems... kind of unrealistic... I've only met her like twice..."

"Just get to it, Miss Mender."

"Okay, this time I _will_ say it. I'll just _say it now_. Now is the time for admitting to things... I'm still not... saying it..." Maddy sighed anxiously. "Okay, gods. It's gods. Greek gods. My dad is Hades, god of the Underworld and Poseidon tried to kill me in that lake because of the huge rivalry between my dad and my two uncles. It's just bad, very bad, also I don't even know how to swim and that didn't help. It's a very big lake and I've said a lot now very quickly and I'm going to leave right now!"

Maddy stood up to leave but Dumbledore said, "Maddy, sit back down." He didn't seem surprised or disbelieving like the others and his eyes were even sparkling the way they did on occasion when he was amused or happy.

She slowly returned to her seat.

Mr Bagman look shocked, while Ms Bloom looked entirely disbelieving.

"Is here any way you could prove this?"

"Hmm, well, let's see, Professor, you could say how mediocre I am everything involving magic and provide my grades, then I could use some of my powers without my wand and if that's not enough, I guess I could try to take you guys to the Underworld? It'd be hard and exhausting and you all would slowly get your souls sucked out of you while down there but sleep can fix that. Or maybe I could try to call up my dad... Yeah, that's probably the easiest, though it might now work... I need my wand for that, though."

Ms Bloom handed Maddy's wand back to her and the daughter of Hades waved her wand and said, " _Sanctum_." A rainbow shot out of the end.

"Okay, I don't have any money on me, I need a galleon."

Dumbledore handed her one and she tossed it into the rainbow and said, "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offer, show me Hades."

The rainbow shimmered and then revealed a dark room where a pale man was sitting a chair, looking horribly annoyed.

"Maddy," Hades sad. "What is it? I'm busy."

"So, hi father," Maddy said awkwardly, "I have made a _terrible_ mistake."

* * *

The interrogation was finally finished at least an hour later and Maddy was sitting with the others -sans Percy who had side-along apparated to wherever it was that he said he needed to be at- near the lake while waiting to hear the results of the task.

Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed out beside them, making them all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows...

"Fleur Delacour demonstrated excellent use of the Bubblehead Charm, she was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and did excellently in getting away from them and retrieving her hostage, managing to get complete the task in just under an hour. We award her forty-eight points."

There was lots of applause and Hermione and Fleur shared a tight congratulatory embrace.

"Nice job, Fleur," Harry said.

"Sounds like you did excellently," Bella cheered.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points." Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.

"Maddy Mender used the Bubblehead Charm as well, however, due to some personal issues, she was unable to complete the task, we have awarded her twenty-one points."

"I said you need to give me zero!" Maddy exclaimed through spattered clapping.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman continued. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges," and here, Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr Potter's score is forty-five points."

"Harry, what did you do?" Maddy asked. "You tried to save everyone? Why?"

"He was being thick," Ron said.

"Well, it doesn't matter because he's in first place now!" Bella screamed, jumping up and down excitedly.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

The task was finally over, and while Maddy was positive that the third task would be worse than the other two, she was glad for a break and actually shocked that she had gotten out of the lake alive.

* * *

A few days after the second task, Maddy and Elliot walked over to the Gryffindor table to see Harry, Ron and Hermione were reading over a letter.

"What's that?" Elliot asked as they sat down.

"Letter from Sirius," Ron said.

"What's it about?" Maddy asked.

"He wants to meet us," Harry said.

"Hey, where is everyone?" Maddy asked, suddenly realising that the previously crowded Gryffindor table was much emptier than before and everyone that was left were sitting away from them.

"That's weird," Hermione said.

"I'll be right back," Bella said and walked over to the closest group of people, she shortly returned with a slightly crumpled newspaper after wrestling with a boy for it. "Okay, one of us needs to take out a subscription to this rag because look at the front page."

_Ancient Magics Revealed_

_The underwhelming Hogwarts champion, Maddy Mender, has revealed that she is not so mediocre after all, writes Rita Skeeter. During the second task of the Triwizard Tournament young Maddy revealed that she is skilled at necromancy a gift from her father, not a powerful dark wizard but an ancient being. Hades, Greek god of the Underworld._

_Miss Mender revealed this information herself, and even introduced her father to Professor Dumbledore and two Ministry officials, Ludo Bagman, the head of the Department of Sports, and Nereida Bloom, a higher up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement._

Here there was an image of Maddy, Dumbledore, Bagman and Bloom standing in front of the Iris Message that Maddy had brought up to speak with her father.

_The method of communication shown above is unknown, however it is known that the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, is involved with it as Miss Mender chanted "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offer, show me Hades."_

_I myself attempted to have a one-on-one interview with this god and upon doing so Hades was revealed to be aggressive, angry and hateful and, according to several of her housemates, Miss Mender has all of these traits, she has repeatedly hurt her housemates and outwardly hates them._

" _She once hospitalised me," says one Slytherin who wished to remain unnamed and this person is not alone. Almost everyone of her year in her house has come through with this claim. So the question is, when will Miss Mender follow in her father's footsteps and take it to the next level? Or has she already taken a life out if this world?_

"Oh my gods," Maddy groaned. "How did she _know_! She _wasn't there!_ Also, this is seriously wrong. I have _never_ hospitalised anyone and my dad doesn't normally kill people. He's too busy for it, he doesn't _want_ to have to deal with _more_ dead people!"

"Calm down, Maddy, we know," Ron said. "I bet Malfoy and his gang were just being complete prats and making all of it up."

"No doubt about it," Elliot said, looking over a different part of the newspaper. "Oh, Hermione, there's an article about you in here too."

_Harry Potter's Secret Heartache_

_A boy like no other, perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss._

_Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wixen that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Fleur Delacour, the granddaughter of world renowned Veela Lacianne Delacour, Miss Granger has been toying with both champion's affections. Delacour, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit her in France over the summer holidays, and insists that she has "never felt this way about any other girl."_

_However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate people's interest._

_"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."_

_Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potters well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate._

"You got _slammed_ , 'Mione!" Bella laughed.

"What kind of newspaper is this?" Maddy asked.

"I told you!" Ron hissed at Hermione as she stared down at the article. "I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you out to be some sort of - of scarlet woman!"

Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter. "Scarlet woman?" she repeated, shaking with suppressed giggles as she looked around at Ron.

"It's what my mum calls them," Ron muttered, his ears going red.

"If that's the best Rita can do, she's losing her touch," said Hermione, still giggling, as she threw the Daily Prophet onto the empty chair beside her. "What a pile of old rubbish. Although, I _do_ wonder how she knew that Fleur had invited me to France and how she knew about your dad."

"Nevermind that right now," Elliot said, peering at her watch, "we've got to get to Potions."

They discussed the possibilities of how Rita Skeeter could have overheard both conversations during Potions in hushed whispers.

"Maybe you guys were bugged with voice and video recorders," Harry suggested.

" _No_ ," Hermione sighed exasperatedly, "how many _times_ , you can't use electronics inside the Hogwarts grounds."

"But what about Maddy's muggle music thing?" Ron asked.

"I told you, a kid of Hecate gave it to me as a gift and made it run off of magic," Maddy replied.

"Maybe she knows a kid of Trivia!" Bella exclaimed quietly.

"No, it can't be-" Hermione began.

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is. Miss Granger," said an icy voice right behind them, and all three of them jumped, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points each from your respective houses."

Snape had glided over to their desk while they were talking.

"Ah... reading newspapers under the table as well?" Snape added, snatching up the copy of the Daily Prophet that Hermione had held on her lap for reference. "A further ten points... oh but of course..." Snape's black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter's article. "Potter and Mender have to keep up with their press cuttings..."

The dungeon rang with the Slytherins' laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's thin mouth. He then proceeded to read the article out loud.

"' _Harry Potter's Secret Heartache'._.. dear, dear. Potter, what's ailing you now? 'A boy like no other, perhaps...'" Snape was pausing at the end of every sentence to allow the Slytherins a hearty laugh. The article sounded ten times worse when read by Snape. Even Hermione was blushing scarlet now.

"'... Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.' How very touching," sneered Snape, rolling up the  
magazine to continued gales of laughter from the Slytherins. "Well, I think I had better separate the three of you, so you can keep your minds on your potions rather than on your tangled love lives. Weasley, you stay here. Miss Granger, over there, beside Miss Parkinson. Potter - that table in front of my desk. Move. Now. Ah, you too, Nevra?" Snape asked, spotting the clipping of the Daily Prophet that contained Maddy's story.

Snape grabbed it and, instead of reading it out loud since it didn't really contain anything embarrassing he just went right into it. "I guess you three have got to be separated as well to keep you from discussing this poorly written article. Nevra, with Miss Bulstrode, de la Mare, behind Mr Nott, Mender, in front of Mr Malfoy."

They begrudgingly moved to their new spots, Maddy was two seats behind Harry and extremely far from everyone else, other than Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.

As she violently worked on her work, Maddy was faintly aware of Snape threatening Harry with a truth telling potion. Which she was sure was illegal. Teachers couldn't threaten their students, right?

There was a knock on the dungeon door.

"Enter," said Snape in his usual voice.

The class looked around as the door opened. Professor Karkaroff came in. Everyone watched him as he walked up toward Snape's desk. He was twisting his finger around his goatee and looking agitated.

"We need to talk," said Karkaroff abruptly when he had reached Snape. He seemed so determined that nobody should hear what he was saying that he was barely opening his lips; it was as though he were a rather poor ventriloquist.

"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape muttered, but Karkaroff  
interrupted him.

"I want to talk now, while you can't slip off, Severus. You've been avoiding me."

"After the lesson," Snape snapped.

Maddy waited and just before the class ended Maddy intentionality dropped one of her empty phials and ducked under the desk, making herself disappeared into the shadows for the sake of listening in.

Once all the students were all gone, Maddy leaned over into the walkway to watch the conversation. In front of her Harry was being a moron and just brushing up a dropped flask of something and not even meeting an attempt at hiding.

"What's so urgent?" Snape hissed at Karkaroff.

"This," said Karkaroff, and Maddy saw Karkaroff pull up the left-hand sleeve of his robe and show Snape something on  
his inner forearm.

"Well?" said Karkaroff, still making every effort not to move his lips. "Do you see? It's never been this clear, not since-"

"Put it away!" snarled Snape, his black eyes sweeping the classroom.

"But you must have noticed-" Karkaroff began in an agitated voice.

"We can talk later, Karkaroff!" spat Snape. "Potter! What are you doing?"

"Clearing up my armadillo bile, Professor," said Harry innocently, straightening  
up and showing Snape the sodden rag he was holding.

Karkaroff turned on his heel and strode out of the dungeon. He looked both worried and angry.

"Mender!" Snape suddenly snapped in her direction, she remained still. "I know your in here too!" Maddy huffed, revealed herself and stood up. As she packed up her things Snape nastily sneered, "Next time you try that you might want to hide your belongings as well."

"Thank you, professor, I will take your advice to heart!" Maddy said quickly as she dashed out of the room, closely followed by Harry.

"Where were you two?" Ron asked when they caught up to him, Hermione and Bella.

"Listening in on Snape and Karkaroff," Maddy shrugged. "We can explain later."

"Maddy! Harry!" Hermione exclaimed condescendingly.

"Where's Elliot?" Harry asked.

"No clue," Bella shrugged. "We didn't see her leave Snape's classroo-"

"You two _suck_ at hiding!" Elliot exclaimed as she walked up to them. "Harry, did you even try? Maddy, why would leave your things there in plain sights? You are both morons."

"Oh jeez, thanks, El, people are really going after my intellect today." Maddy rolled her eyes. "First Rita Skeeter, now you. I bet Malfoy will throw a rock at me with that pleasant reminder carved into it at me next."

Maddy was left alone in the castle at noon, she still didn't have her Hogsmeade permission slip signed, though she supposed she could get it signed now since everyone knew about gods, Dumbledore probably already knew, the way he reacted and he was really old, he had probably had other demigods he taught that hadn't been good at hiding their secret.

* * *

"Snape and Karkaroff are Death Eaters," Elliot said when she walked into the Slytherin common room that night.

"What?" Maddy asked.

"Karkaroff was showing Snape his dark mark tattoo that all Death Eaters get on their forearm, he wouldn't show that to a non Death Eater."

"Okay, what did you guys and Sirius talk about?"

"Oh mostly some boring stuff, I didn't really pay attention because I already knew it, you can ask the others in the morning. Other than that it was 'someone's definitely out for you because of your names being in the Goblet of Fire.'"

"That last one's pretty obvious," Maddy shrugged. "Well, goodnight, I'm tired."

"Night."

* * *

"We were mostly seeing if Snape was a Death Eater until Elliot decided to finally tell us," Ron said the next morning.

"Snuffles also asked us about you being a demigod," Bella added.

"Snuffles?" Maddy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, we're supposed to call him that now."

"There was some interesting stuff about Crouch too," Ron added. "He apparently sent his son to Azkaban."

"And he was completely happy about it," Harry added.

"Wow. _That's_ ruthless." Maddy commented.

"D'you want to go to the kitchens with us so we can get some food for Snuffles?" Hermione asked after breakfast.

"Hmmm..."

"We'll also be asking Percy is he knows what's up with Crouch," Ron added.

"Eh, nah. I think I'll just hang out. I want to enjoy not almost dying by sleeping some more."


	12. Chocolate and Caramel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so to clarify a few things; Percy got to Hogwarts via ~magic~ and neither Maddy nor Bella can manipulate the Mist and it seemed like kind of a big thing to hide... that's just my rational, though *shrug* ANYWAYS, have a new chapter

When the post owls arrived the next morning, Hermione looked up eagerly; she seemed to be expecting something.

"Percy won't've had time to answer yet," said Ron. "We only sent Hedwig yesterday."

"No, it's not that," said Hermione. "I've taken out a subscription to the Daily Prophet. I'm getting sick of finding everything out from the Slytherins."

"Good thinking!" said Harry, also looking up at the owls.

"Yeah, I'm tired of walking up to scared housemates to get the newspaper," Bella added.

"Hey, Hermione, I think you're in luck," Maddy pointed out as a grey owl soared down towards Hermione.

"Definitely not the _Daily Prophet_ ," Elliot commented as the owl landed, closely followed by three others.

"Ow!" Maddy exclaimed when a letter suddenly slammed into her head. " _Too good to land, huh!_ " She shook her fist up at an owl flying away empty clawed. "Oh, Hades! Why do they keep on dropping them on me? Hermione gets the whole owl, I just get the - _fuck!_ " The last letter that dropped down right onto her left arm, practically exploded and covered both of her arms, some of her hair, and several other parts of her body, as well as most of her food and some of Elliot, who looked at Maddy like she was at fault for that, in a silvery blue liquid.

"The Hades is this, ah, it _stings_ ," she hissed. "I hate people."

"You should go to the hospital wing," Harry said.

"What kind of murder bullshit is this!" Bella exclaimed reading over one of Hermione's letters. "Look at this!" She held out a letter that was written completely out of cut out letters from newspapers and magazines.

"That is an accurate description," Maddy agreed while Elliot grabbed her with one of her hands.

"No time to stay and look," she said quickly, "this shit's Moonseed Poison, in like ten minutes it'll burn itself into our skin. Bella, bring the rest of the letters up to the hospital wing, I want to read them and laugh at them." She then began to drag Maddy out of the Great Hall at a surprisingly tremendous speed.

Upon seeing the problem, Madam Pomfrey quickly began to tend to the two and had just barely finished doing so when Hermione ran in, tears streaming down her face and undiluted bubotuber pus all over her hands.

Bella brought a huge pile of letters up a few minutes later.

Apparently, all of Maddy's letters were from angry magical demigods. The were upset the gods were now a known thing. There were multiple people who had even said that Maddy was the only one at fault even though there was no possible way that she could have avoided the second task.

Hermione, Elliot and Maddy were let out of the hospital wing in time to be late to Care of Magical Creatures, for Hermione and Maddy, and Muggle Studies for Elliot. Hermione's hands were heavily bandaged and Maddy and Elliot had thick bandages soaked in some sort of potion wrapped around their wounded parts.

"Oh, there y'are, Hermione, Maddy!" Hagrid called when the two got down to his cabin. "Been wondering where you were. What happened?"

"We can explain later," Maddy sighed, noticing Pansy Parkinson sharply eying them, no doubt trying to listen in on what they say to see if there was anything she could use in some way.

"Alright, here, we're dealing with Nifflers today," he said, handing them both a fuzzy, black animal with a long snout. Maddy's cuddled up to her. "You won't be able to win, but it's still fun to watch them dig up coins. Go ahead and set them down over there."

"These are the best things you've ever had, Hagrid," Maddy said. "They're definitely Underworld creatures or related to some!"

"Really?"

"Yep, only Underworld creatures act this way around me."

"Fang likes you."

"Hagrid, Fang's a hellhound... that's an Underworld monster... that's why he's so big, normal dogs aren't the size of a small car."

"Oh." Well, he took that well. Actually, it probably made him like Fang more.

"Well, time to participate," Maddy said, walking over to the group of people and placing her Niffler down right beside Harry's, Hermione was beside Ron, who was overflowing with coins. Harry was just sitting there and chatting with Ron while Bella was actually digging through the ground herself.

"What are you doing?" Maddy asked her.

"Helping Fluffers," she replied.

"You've named it already?"

"Yeah, she's super cute. I plan to take her from Hagrid and she will be mine!"

"But they wreck houses, you heard Hagrid," Ron pointed out.

"It'll be fine," Bella said, "besides, I have a few people whose apartments would be really fun to trash! Let's see... it's mostly kids of Venus, I would do it to Reyna too but she would probably punish me in some way since she's the preator. No sense of sisterly love in that one. I'm joking, she loves me, but she really would like kick my arse or something if I did anything to her place."

"Well, let's check how yeh've done!" said Hagrid after a few minutes. "Count yer coins! An' there's no point tryin' ter steal any, Goyle," he added, his beetle-black eyes narrowed. "It's leprechaun gold. Vanishes after a few hours."

Goyle emptied his pockets, looking extremely sulky. It turned out that Ron's niffler had been most successful, so Hagrid gave him an enormous slab of Honeydukes chocolate for a prize.

The bell rang across the grounds for lunch; the rest of the class set off back to the castle, but Harry, Ron, Bella, Hermione and Maddy stayed behind to help Hagrid put the nifflers back in their boxes.

"Now, what have you two done to yerselves?" Hagrid said to Hermione and Maddy, looking concerned.

"We got a lot of hate mail," Hermione sighed. "I got a letter filled with undiluted bubotuber pus."

"Mine literally exploded on me," Maddy added. "It was Moonshine Potion or something."

"Moonstone Poison," Bella corrected.

"That's nasty stuff, that is," Hagrid commented. "It can do some real damage. Anyways, what're people mad at you for?"

"Other demigods are getting pissy because I didn't just not pass out in the lake," Maddy said. "I'm actually relieved, I can openly say 'thank you Tyche,' or 'curse you Eris,' or you know whatever else I want to say."

"Don't worry you two," Hagrid said gently. "I got some o' those letters an' all, after Rita Skeeter wrote abou' me mum. ' _Yeh're a monster an' yeh should be put down.' 'Yer mother killed innocent people an' if you had any decency you'd jump in a lake_.'"

"No!" said Hermione, looking shocked.

"Yeah," said Hagrid, heaving the niffler crates over by his cabin wall.

"Wow, so 'kill yourself' messages exist in the wizarding world too," Maddy said. "Wonderful, just what I've always wanted."

"They're jus' nutters. Don't open 'em if you get any more. Chuck 'em straigh' in the fire."

"I wonder why I didn't think of that..."

"Yeah, you're usually the first one to suggest avoiding things by destroying them," Bella nodded.

* * *

Harry's owl didn't return with Percy's response until Easter -by which time both Maddy and Hermione had gotten an innumerable amount of hate mail, including Howlers- and alongside the letter, she carried six chocolate Easter eggs. Harry, Ron, Elliot and Bella's were the size of dragon eggs and full of homemade toffee, Hermione's was barely larger than a chicken's and completely empty and Maddy's was just massive and filled with caramel.

"You know, I'm fine with people being afraid of me if it means I get huge amounts of chocolate and caramel," she said.

"You can have some of my egg, Hermione," Bella was saying at the same time. "I can just steal some of Maddy's later."

"You will do _no_ such thing!"

"Thanks, Bella, but you don't have to do that," Hermione said, sadly looking at her tiny egg.

"I feel conflicted," Maddy whispered at no one.

"Don't you want to see what Percy's written?" Harry asked her hastily.

Percy's letter was short and irritated.

_As I am constantly telling the Daily Prophet, Mr Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending in regular owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him, but I think I can be trusted to know my own superior's handwriting. I have quite enough to do at the moment without trying to quash these ridiculous rumors. Please don't bother me again unless it's something important._

_Happy Easter._

* * *

In the last month of May, Maddy and Harry were held back after Transfiguration.

"You are to go down to the Quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock," she told them. "Mr Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."

That night, Maddy and Harry met up in the entrance hall and then ended up walking into Fleur as they walked past the Beauxbatons cabin.

"So, what horrible thing do you think we'll have to _this_ time?" Maddy asked.

"I heard something about underground tunnels," Fleur replied. "We might have to search for a treasure or something like that."

"That might be the best possible situation other than not doing this. Searching for treasure, I can use a niffler, if it's like a labyrinth thing that we have to go through and then get out of it I can just use a super long string like Ariadne gave to Theseus. It feels surprisingly good to actually bring up history that I actually know about."

"That would be a pretty good plan," Fleur nodded.

"Am I the only one that isn't familiar with this sort of stuff?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Maddy nodded.

They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the field.

"What've they done to it?" Harry exclaimed, stopping in his tracks.

The Quidditch field was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as though somebody had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.

"Nevermind, it won't be underground," Fleur added.

"Damn it, why'd you have to suggest that and get my hopes up?" Maddy muttered.

"Hello there!" called a cheery voice.

Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field with Krum. Harry, Maddy and Fleur made their way toward them, climbing over the hedges.

"Well, what d'you think?" said Bagman happily as they climbed over the last hedge. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry," he added, grinning, spotting the less-than-happy expressions on Harry's face, "you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

No one spoke for a moment. Then, "Maze," grunted Krum.

"That's right!" said Bagman. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

"We simply have to get through the maze?" Fleur asked.

"There will be obstacles," said Bagman happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures... then there will be spells that must be broken... all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champion who is leading on points will get a head start into the maze." Bagman grinned at Harry. "Then Mr Krum and Miss Delacour will enter and finally, Miss Mender will enter as well. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

Everyone nodded politely.

"Very well... if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly..."

"So close to being able to do the Ariadne's string thing," Maddy muttered as everyone began to walk over the new hedges again. "Other than that, this is pretty much just... standard life... although that is the reason why so many of us have died before the age of sixteen. Oh gods, I've survived Poseidon trying to kill me and I'm going to die in a maze."

"You have been having a lot of these moments this year," Harry said.

"And you haven't had enough of these moments, Harry!"

Everyone walked together along the castle, although Krum split off rather early to go to the Durmstrang ship.

Fairly close to the point where Fleur would have to split off as well, Maddy felt a familiar drop in her gut and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Maddy?" Harry stopped as well.

"Is something wrong?" Fleur asked.

"Not really, somebody that I kinda know just died somewhere within a twenty mile radius," she replied.

"Wait, who?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, that's why I was so vague, if someone I don't really know dies I can only tell that _someone_ has died _somewhere_ within a twenty mile radius."

"That's quite a power," Mr Bagman commented. "We should find who it is."

"Mr Bagman, can you stay here as a place marker?"

"Sure, of course!"

"Harry, come look with me, Fleur, can you get Circe MacBeth?"

"Of course I can, but why?" She asked.

"You can ask her yourself, come on, Harry!" Maddy shouted as she ran away with Harry in tow.

* * *

Maddy, Harry, Fleur and Circe were walking back to where Ludo Bagman was anxiously standing, talking to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Moody. Harry quickly tried to shove the Marauders Map into his pocket.

"Ah, Miss Mender," Dumbledore said in a strangely solemn voice. "Ludo has just finished telling me about what has happened. Have you found anything?"

"No," Maddy sighed. "It might have just been a mistake, or something, maybe. Possibly. Kinda unlikely but still possible, it's a pretty unique feeling. Sorry about that. Maybe wasting your time, that is. Language is hard, I think you get what I mean so I'm going to stop talking now. Right now. At this moment. Harry, please say something before it's just lots of words falling out of my mouth like word vomit. Like right now. _Harry, why aren't you talking!_ Y-"

"Oh my gods, stop, Maddy!" Circe exclaimed.

"Thank you," Maddy whispered. "I'm sorry for that babbling..."

"It's quite alright, I imagine you are quite stressed," Dumbledore commented as Moody quietly conversed with Harry. "We will try our best to help. I'll ask Hagrid to do a more thorough search of the grounds and Professor Moody and I will see what else could have happened."

"You don't need to do that, I could be entirely wrong!" Maddy exclaimed. "I'm just kinda jumpy about that sort of feeling..."

"I trust your instinct, besides we should be as thorough as possible when dealing with someone's life, however, you four should return to your carriage and common rooms respectively."

"We can he-" Harry began.

"You have already done more than enough," Dumbledore interrupted.

Maddy and Harry said goodbye to Fleur and Circe as they begrudgingly departed from the others and headed for the front doors.

"So what did Moody want?" Maddy asked.

"He saw my map," Harry replied as he pushed on the front doors. "He asked to borrow it."

"Did you let him?"

"Of course! I didn't see a reason not to and even I didn't agree he could have just confiscated it."

"Fair enough," Maddy sighed. "Night, Harry," she yawned as she slit off from Harry and headed for the dungeons.

* * *

The next day, Maddy, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Bella and Elliot headed towards the Defence classroom after their History of Magic classroom. They hurried out into the corridors toward the Dark Arts classroom and found Professor Moody leaving it. He looked as tired as they all felt -Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bella had woken up at some obscene hour of the morning to send a letter to Sirius (they also saw Fred and George, who were apparently blackmailing someone) and Maddy and Elliot were just groggy from sleeping through the entire class- the eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more lopsided appearance than usual.

"Professor Moody?" Harry called as they made their way toward him through the crowd.

"Hello, Potter," growled Moody. His magical eye followed a couple of passing first years, who sped up, looking nervous; it rolled into the back of Moody's head and watched them around the corner before he spoke again. "Come in here." He stood back to let them into his empty classroom, limped in after them, and closed the door.

"Did you find it?" Harry asked without preamble. "The body?"

"No," said Moody. He moved over to his desk, sat down, stretched out his wooden leg with a slight groan, and pulled out his hip flask.

"Did you use the map?" Harry said.

"Of course," said Moody, taking a swig from his flask. "There wasn't a single person anywhere on there that was dead."

"So whoever killed the person disapparated with the body!" Ron exclaimed.

"Incorrect," Elliot mumbled lazily. "Y' can't disapparate within the Hogwarts grounds."

"I've told you that a million times," Hermione sighed. "There are other ways the body could have disappeared, aren't there, professor?"

Moody's magical eye quivered as it rested on Hermione. "You're someone who might think about a career as an Auror," he told her. "Mind works the right way, Granger." Hermione flushed pink with pleasure.

"Well, the body wasn't invisible," Harry said. "The map shows invisible things. Then again, I'm not really sure if it shows bodies..."

"It probably does," Bella interjected. "It shows ghosts."

"That doesn't mean it shows bodies," Maddy, who was leaning on Elliot -who was also leaning on Maddy- said. "Ghosts and bodies are different, actually I'd say it probably doesn't show bodies since ghosts are like the life force, sort of, of people. It's hard to explain but I bet you get it. To make sure you might want to take a look at the Founder's Graveyard... I'm gonna go to the sleep party now..."

"An excellent point," Moody agreed. "You could also make a good Auror."

"No thank you, I'll stick with something boring. Slightly lower the risk of me dying before the age of twenty."

"Maybe," Ron said, thinking hard, "maybe whoever died was picked up by someone on a broom and they flew away!" He looked quite pleased with himself and he clearly wanted to be told that he had the makings of an Auror as well.

"This is accurate and happens all the time," Bella nodded.

"We can't rule out someone taking the body," Moody growled, then he yawned widely, so that his scars stretched, and his lopsided mouth revealed a number of missing teeth. Then he said, "Now, Dumbledore's told me you six fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for this. The Ministry'll be looking for anything that could help, Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, Mender, you two just keep your mind on the third task."

"What?" said Harry. "Oh yeah..."

"Should be right up your street, this one," said Moody, looking up at Harry and scratching his scarred and stubbly chin. "From what Dumbledore's said, you've managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times. You both broke your way through a series of obstacles guarding the Philosopher's Stone in your first year, didn't you?"

"We helped," Ron said quickly. "Me and Hermione and Bella helped."

"And Elliot was sleeping," Maddy interjected. "Also, yes, piece of cake. Compared to the other tasks anyway. Probably."

"In the meantime... constant vigilance, you two. Constant vigilance." He took another long draw from his hip flask, and his magical eye swiveled onto the window. The topmost sail of the Durmstrang ship was visible through it. "You four," counseled Moody, his normal eye on Ron, Bella, Elliot and Hermione, "you stick close to these two, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but all the same... you can never have too many eyes out."

* * *

The next morning, Sirius sent back a letter to Harry.

_Harry - So someone has died? Harry, absolutely DO NOT interfere or go looking for the person. There is somebody very dangerous at Hogwarts. Your and Maddy's names didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to your friends, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and arm yourself for the third task. Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either, maybe ask Maddy to help you with some physical fighting, you never know if it could be used. There's nothing you can do about the death. Keep your head down and look after yourself. I'm waiting for your letter giving me your word you won't stray out-of-bounds again._

_Sirius_

"Who's he, to lecture me about being out-of-bounds?" said Harry in mild indignation as he folded up Sirius's letter and put it inside his robes. "After all the stuff he did at school!"

"Yeah, but he didn't have an evil wizard after him," Maddy pointed out. "I think he made some good points. Meet me and Bella in the empty classroom across the hall from History of Magic between dinner and your last class."

"I can't do that time!" Bella exclaimed.

"What why not?"

"I'm still doing orchestra!"

" _Since when have you been doing orchestra_?"

"Since first year! Don't you remember, we had a whole conversation about it in our first year and the fact that I play the violin is the reason why we even got past Fluffy!"

"I vaguely remember that... Why hasn't it come up since then?"

"We don't do anything and you don't pay attention to anything," Bella replied.

"Good point..."

"-in training for the third task, straight away. And you make sure you write back to Sirius and promise him you're not going to go sneaking off alone again," Hermione was saying, apparently she, Harry, Ron and Elliot had been having a conversation. "You really should meet up with Maddy and Bella sometime to get some physical training in."

"I can do after dinner," Bella offered, "and I know Maddy can too because she doesn't do anything and, Harry, I know you can as well because I know that you also do nothing."

"You got me there, I've got no life," Maddy sighed.

"That's fine with me, and I _do_ do things," Harry said defensively.

For the next few days, Harry and Maddy spent all their time looking up spells, practicing them on the others -'the others' being Bella, Hermione and Ron since Elliot decided to hand out with Seo-yun instead of being slammed with spells- and Bella and Maddy teaching Harry some basic fighting and defence moves. Bella also gave Maddy her shield because she was, in Bella's words, 'too fragile.'

"Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Ron suggested on Monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of their Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and reawoken by Harry for the fifth time in a row. "Let's Stun her for a bit. Or you could use Dobby, Harry, I bet he'd do anything to help you. I'm not complaining or anything-" he got gingerly to his feet, rubbing his backside "-but I'm aching all over..."

"Sounds like complaining," Bella said as she stood up after being reawoken by Maddy.

"Hey, you have giant hair that acts like a cushion."

"Since when has hair been a cushion? And it doesn't help when I fall forward onto my face! I chipped a tooth last time!" She grabbed her lips and pulled them out to reveal her recently chipped front tooth.

"Well, you both keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said Hermione impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions they had used for the Banishing Spell in Charms, which Flitwick had left in a cabinet. "Just try and fall backward!"

"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, Hermione!" said Ron angrily.

At the same time Bella had exclaimed, "How about you try falling in a specific direction while Stunned!"

"Why don't you take a turn?"

"Well, I think Harry and Maddy have got it now, anyway," said Hermione hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming for Harry, because he's been able to do that for ages...I Bella should go over some more defensive moves, while Maddy works on Disarming..."

The bell rang and they hastily shoved the cushions back into Flitwick's cupboard and slipped out of the classroom.

"See you at dinner!" said Hermione, and she set off for Arithmancy, while Harry, Bella and Ron headed toward North Tower for Divination and Maddy headed for the East Tower for Study of Ancient Runes.


	13. The Dream

_Maddy was panicking._

_She was on the back of an eagle owl, soaring through the air and she had no idea how she got there. She was heading towards an old, ivy-covered house set high on a hillside. Lower and lower she flew until she reached a dark and broken window in the upper story of the house and entered._

_Maddy tried to get off of the owl as she flew along a gloomy passageway, to a room at the very end, but was unable to do so, she couldn't even move. Through the door she went, into a dark room whose windows were boarded up... Then, the owl was suddenly gone from beneath her... she was watching, now, as it fluttered across the room, into a chair with its back to her._

_There were two dark shapes on the floor beside the chair... both of them were stirring. One was a huge snake, the other was a man, a short, balding man, a man with watery eyes and a pointed nose. He was wheezing and sobbing on the hearth rug._

" _You are in luck, Wormtail," said a cold, high-pitched voice from the depths of the chair in which the owl had landed. "You are very fortunate indeed. Your blunder has not ruined everything. He is dead."_

" _My Lord!" gasped the man on the floor. "My Lord, I am... I am so pleased... and so sorry..."_

" _Nagini," said the cold voice, "you are out of luck. I will not be feeding Wormtail to you, after all... but never mind, never mind, there is still Harry Potter..." The snake hissed._

" _And don't forget the Daughter of Hades," another voice said from somewhere Maddy couldn't see, she tried to turn her head to see but once again found that she was unable to move. "Her blood will be delicious."_

" _Yes... now, Wormtail," said the cold voice, "perhaps one more little reminder why I will not tolerate another blunder from you..."_

" _My Lord... no... I beg you..." The tip of a wand emerged from around the back of the chair. It was pointing at Wormtail. "_ Crucio!" _said the cold voice. Wormtail screamed, screamed as though every nerve in his body were on fire, the screaming filled Maddy's ears and head._

_It hurt, it was so awful and with it came a flood of memories..._

Until she felt a thud and opened her eyes.

She was on the ground of the Study of Ancient Runes classroom, hanging upside down out of her chair with everyone staring at her.

Maddy's face flushed in embarrassment as she sat up slowly said, "I need to go, Professor Babbling... I'll come back and get any work I've missed later..."

"Yes, perhaps that would be best," Professor Babbling was looking at Maddy with concern as she grabbed her things and quickly fled from the classroom.

Maddy was, once again, panicking.

She had just had a demigod dream.

She hadn't had many before, but it was a very distinct feeling, just like everything else that dealt with being a demigod. This once clearly contained Voldemort and she was almost positive that that voice that only spoke once was a god. It had the power and feel of one, anyway. Either way, she needed to tell Dumbledore.

"Okay," Maddy heard someone say as she rounded the corner to get to Dumbledore's office. Then she recognized the person as Harry. "Pear Drop. Er... Licorice Wand. Fizzing Whizbee. Drooble's B-"

"Harry?" Maddy called out.

Harry jumped and turned to face Maddy.

"Oh, hey Maddy."

"Yeah, hi, what's up?"

"Oh, I had a weird dream in Divination... Voldemort and Wormtail and some other voice were in it... You?" He asked.

"Actually, it's the exact same for me."

"What, really?"

"Yeah, we really need to talk to Dumbledore. What's the password."

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Harry turned back to the stone gargoyle. "Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, oh no, he doesn't like them, does he? Oh just open, can't you?" he said angrily. "I really need to see him, it's urgent!"

"Ooh, that'll work."

Harry kicked it when it didn't move. "Ow!"

"You know, this is pretty entertaining..." Maddy said. "Keep yelling at the inanimate object."

"Chocolate Frog!" he yelled angrily, standing on one leg. "Sugar Quill! Cockroach Cluster!" The gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside. Harry blinked. "Cockroach Cluster?" he said, amazed. "I was only joking..."

"Holy shit," Maddy chuckled as Harry walked up the newly revealed staircase. "Does Dumbledore actually _like_ Cockroach Clusters? I'm definitely sending him some sometime."

They could hear voices from inside the office and stepped off the moving staircase and hesitated, listening.

"Dumbledore, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, don't see it at all!" It was the voice of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. "Ludo says Bertha's perfectly capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by now, but all the same, we've no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all. As for her disappearance being linked with Barty Crouch's and this dead body!"

"Is Crouch missing?" Maddy whispered.

"There was an article this morning," Harry replied under his breath.

"And what do you think's happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?" said Moody's growling voice. "And the death on Hogwarts grounds?"

"I see two possibilities, Alastor," said Fudge. "Either Crouch has finally cracked -more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given his personal history- lost his mind, and gone wandering off somewhere, or else, well... I'd rather not say. As for the death..." Fudge sounded embarrassed. "Well, I'll reserve judgment until after I've seen the place where he was found, but you say it was close to the Beauxbatons carriage? Dumbledore, you know what that woman is?"

"I consider her to be a very able headmistress and an excellent dancer," said Dumbledore quietly.

"Dumbledore, come!" said Fudge angrily. "Don't you think you might be prejudiced in her favor because of Hagrid? They don't all turn out harmless -if, indeed, you can call Hagrid harmless, with that monster fixation he's got-"

"I no more suspect Madame Maxime than Hagrid," said Dumbledore, just as calmly. "I think it possible that it is _you_ who are prejudiced, Cornelius."

"Can we wrap up this discussion?" growled Moody.

"Yes, yes, let's go down to the grounds, then," said Fudge impatiently.

"No, it's not that," said Moody, "it's just that Potter and Mender want a word with you, Dumbledore. They're just outside the door."

The door of the office opened.

"Hello, Potter, Mender," said Moody. "Come in, then."

The two entered the room, Harry looking abashed and Maddy smiling nervously.

Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore's desk, wearing his usual pinstriped cloak and holding his lime-green bowler hat.

"Harry!" said Fudge jovially, moving forward. "How are you?"

"Fine," Harry lied.

"We were just talking about the night when you, Miss Mender, sensed a death on the grounds," said Fudge, nervously eyeing the daughter of Hades. "You were there too, were you not, Harry?"

"Er, yes. But I didn't see Madam Maxime anywhere around there and it would be pretty hard for her to hide. You could also ask Fleur or Circe MacBeth, they were both in their cabin at the time."

Dumbledore smiled at Harry behind Fudge's back, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes, well," said Fudge, looking embarrassed, "we're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us... perhaps if you just go back to your classes-"

"I wanted to talk to you, Professor," Harry said quickly, looking at Dumbledore, who gave him a swift, searching look. "We both do."

"Wait here for me, Harry," he said. "Our examination of the grounds will not take long."

The adults left the room and the two kids were left awkwardly sitting around in the Dumbledore's fancy, circular office.

After a few minutes, Harry stood up and walked over to a slightly ajar cabinet.

"Harry, no."

He opened it up all th way and Maddy saw a stone basin that had some silver liquid that steamed in the exact same colour that she could only just barely see. At first, Harry held out his wand as if to prod it, but then thought better of it, put his wand back into his pocket and began to lean over.

"Harry, what are you doing?"

He ignored her question and leaned in farther until his face was in the liquid.

"Harriet Potter, you idiot, you won't stick your wand in the strange, unknown liquid but you stick your face in ther? What kind of logic is that? Don't expect me to defend or help you when Dumbledore comes back or your face burns off."

Maddy waited several more minutes before Dumbledore entered and then stuck his own face into the stone bowl.

"Professor," Harry gasped, "I know I shouldn't've - I didn't mean - the cabinet door was sort of open and-"

"I quite understand," said Dumbledore. He lifted the basin, carried it over to his desk, placed it upon the polished top, and sat down in the chair behind it. He motioned for Harry to sit down opposite him and beside Maddy.

When they both stood upright, Maddy said, "Okay... can you explain what just happened and what that is?"

"This? It is called a Pensieve," said Dumbledore. "I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind."

"Er," said Harry.

"All the time," Maddy lied.

"At these times," said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, "I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form."

"You mean... that stuff's your thoughts?" Harry said, staring at the swirling white substance in the basin.

"Certainly," said Dumbledore. "Let me show you." Dumbledore drew his wand out of the inside of his robes and placed the tip into his own silvery hair, near his temple. When he took the wand away, hair seemed to be clinging to it, but then Maddy saw that it was in fact a glistening strand of the  
same strange silvery-white substance that filled the Pensieve. Dumbledore added  
this fresh thought to the basin, he then placed his long hands on either side of the Pensieve and swirled it, rather as a gold prospector would pan for fragments of gold and Maddy saw the clear liquid change smoothly into Snape's face, who opened his mouth and spoke to the ceiling, his voice echoing slightly.

"It's coming back... Karkaroff's too... stronger and clearer than ever..."

"A connection I could have made without assistance," Dumbledore sighed, "but  
never mind." He peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles at Harry and Maddy.

"I was using the Pensieve when Mr Fudge arrived for our meeting and put it away rather  
hastily. Undoubtedly I did not fasten the cabinet door properly. Naturally, it would have attracted your attention. I'm a little surprised it didn't attract yours as well," he added to Maddy.

"I wasn't about to stick my face in an unknown liquid, Professor," Maddy replied.

"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled and Dumbledore shook his head.

"Curiosity is not a sin," he said. "But we should exercise caution with our curiosity... yes, indeed..."

Frowning slightly, he prodded the thoughts within the basin with the tip of his  
wand. Instantly, a figure rose out of it, a plump, scowling girl of about sixteen, who began to revolve slowly, with her feet still in the basin. She took no notice whatsoever of Harry, Maddy or Professor Dumbledore. When she spoke, her voice echoed as Snape's had done, as though it were coming from the depths of the stone basin.

"He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, sir, I only said I'd seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses last Thursday..."

"But why. Bertha," said Dumbledore sadly, looking up at the now silently revolving girl, "why did you have to follow him in the first place?"

The name Bertha was kind of familiar to Maddy...

"Bertha?" Harry whispered, looking up at her. "Is that - was that Bertha Jorkins?"

"Yes," said Dumbledore, prodding the thoughts in the basin again; Bertha sank back into them, and they became silvery and opaque once more. "That was Bertha as I remember her at school.

"So, Harry, Maddy," said Dumbledore quietly. "Before you got lost in my thoughts, you  
wanted to tell me something."

"Yes," said Harry. "Professor, I was in Divination just now, and, er, I fell asleep." There was a pause.

"Understandable."

"And I was in Study of Ancient Runes and also fell asleep," Maddy added, causing a longer pause. "We should keep in mind that we were doing Ancient Greek and I'm more fluent in Greek than English."

"Then that is understandable as well," Dumbledore nodded.

"And I had a dream," Harry said. "And Maddy had one that was at least very similar. it was about Lord Voldemort. He was torturing Wormtail... you know who Wormtail-"

"I do know," said Dumbledore promptly. "Please continue."

"Voldemort got a letter from an owl. He said something like, Wormtail's blunder had been repaired. He said someone was dead. Then he said, Wormtail wouldn't be fed to the snake - there was a snake beside his chair. He said - he said he'd be  
feeding me and Maddy's blood to it, instead, but it wasn't Voldemort who said the part about Maddy, it was someone else that I couldn't see. Then he did the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail - and my scar hurt," Harry said. "It woke me up, it hurt so badly."

"That is exactly my dream," Maddy nodded. "And that voice was a god, it had to be."

"It was? How - how do you know?" Harry asked.

"Gods have a certain power and authority when they speak, when you grow up around them you can identify even the most humanlike ones as gods."

"I see," said Dumbledore quietly. "I see. Now, Harry, has your scar hurt at any other time this year, excepting the time it woke you up over the summer?"

"No, I - how did you know it woke me up over the summer?" said Harry, clearly astonished.

"You are not Sirius's only correspondent," said Dumbledore. "I have also been in contact with him ever since he left Hogwarts last year. It was I who suggested the  
mountainside cave as the safest place for him to stay."  
Dumbledore got up and began walking up and down behind his desk. Every now and then, he placed his wand tip to his temple, removed another shining silver thought, and added it to the Pensieve. The thoughts inside began to swirl so fast that Maddy couldn't make out anything clearly: It was merely a blur of color.

"Professor?" Harry said quietly, after a couple of minutes.

Dumbledore stopped pacing and looked at the two fourth years.

"My apologies," he said quietly. He sat back down at his desk.

"D'you - d'you know why my scar's hurting me?"

Dumbledore looked very intently at Harry for a moment, and then said, "I have a theory, no more than that... It is my belief that your scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of  
hatred."

"But... why?"

"Because you and he are connected by the curse that failed," said Dumbledore.  
"That is no ordinary scar."

"So you think... that dream... did it really happen?"

"It is possible," said Dumbledore. "I would say probable. Did either of you see  
Voldemort?"

"Just his wand," Maddy said.

"And the back of his chair," Harry added. "But - there wouldn't have been anything to see, would there? I mean, he hasn't got a body, has he? But.. but then how could he have held the wand?" Harry said slowly.

"How indeed?" muttered Dumbledore. "How indeed..."

"He could be like a ghost sort of thing," Maddy offered.

"But ghosts can't hold things," Harry pointed out.

"Oh you're right. Nevermind. Although, why was a god talking about me? I'm not important, I've done nothing but accidentally let spill that gods and demigods are real, which I am still getting hate mail about."

"Perhaps there is something special about demigod blood, Harry did say that the god brought up your blood," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"Yeah but Ichors doesn't do anything other than letting us eat ambrosia and drink nectar without exploding and people doesn't just _get_ it in their blood, so it's not like it helps anyone."

"There is probably something we are not considering, I will think on it, in the meantime, you two need to focus on the upcoming task, I'll worry about this."

"Okay," Maddy nodded. "Uh, I'm going to go now... I'd like to get my homework before dinner..."

"Go ahead. Harry?"

"I actually have another question," Harry said but Maddy didn't hear what happened after that point as she has left the room and didn't really care to listen in.

* * *

"So Dumbledore _knows_ that Snape was a Death Eater and still trusts him even though he reckons You-Know-Who's getting strong?" Ron asked.

"Apparently," Harry shrugged.

He has told the others what he had seen in the pensive and what he had talked about after Maddy had left Dumbledore's office. Ludo Bagman had been on trial for spreading information to a Death Eater, Barty Crouch mercilessly sentenced his own son to Azkaban and Karkaroff had tried to turn in a _lot_ of Death Eaters for his freedom.

Hermione had not spoken for ten minutes. She was sitting with her forehead in her hands, staring at her knees.

"Rita Skeeter," she muttered finally.

"How in the name of the gods can you still be worrying about that woman!" Bella exclaimed.

"I'm not worrying about her," Hermione said to her knees. "I'm just thinking... remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks? 'I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl.' This is what she meant, isn't it? She reported his trial, she knew he'd passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky too, remember... 'Ludo Bagman's a bad wizard.' Mr Crouch would have been furious he got off, he would have talked about it at home."

"But didn't he do it on accident?" Seo-yun Gorre, who had begun to hang out with the six of them on occasion, asked.

Hermione shrugged in response and looked at her watch. "We haven't done any practicing and we need to get back to our common rooms!" she said, looking shocked. "We were going to do the Impediment Curse! We'll have to really get down to it tomorrow!"

Everyone broke off from each other to go to their respective common rooms.

* * *

Ron, Bella, Elliot, Hermione and Seo-yun (who Maddy was suspecting was becoming part of the group since she was always there when Elliot was there) were supposed to be studying for their exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, but they were putting most of their efforts into helping Harry and Maddy prepare.

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said shortly when Harry pointed this out to them and said he didn't mind practicing on his own for a while, "at least we'll get top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'd never have found out about all these hexes in class."

"Good training for when we're all Aurors," said Ron excitedly, attempting the Impediment Curse on a wasp that had buzzed into the room and making it stop dead in midair.

"What about your other exams?" Maddy asked. "Ron, I know for a fact that you need to study more for Potions and Transfiguration, besides, this shouldn't be too hard. It's a simple maze."

"Well you've calmed down a lot," Harry noted.

"Yeah, it's weird..."

"I've been slipping an anti-anxiety potion in her water for breakfast," Bella whispered to the other five in a not very quiet voice.

"First of all, how _dare_ you, sir," Maddy started, "second of all... thank you? This feels actually pretty nice to not be terrified all the time. I've missed this..."

The mood in the castle as they entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term. Maddy was practicing hexes at every available moment. She felt more confident about this task than either of the others. Difficult and dangerous though it would undoubtedly be, Moody was right: she and Harry had managed to find their way past monstrous creatures and enchanted barriers before now, and this time they had some notice, some chance to prepare themselves for what lay ahead.

Tired of walking in on Harry, Hermione, Ron, Maddy, Bella, Elliot and Seo-yun all over the school, Professor McGonagall had given them permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes. They had soon mastered the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, which would enable them to blast solid objects out of their way; and the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's that would make their wands point due north, therefore enabling them to check whether they were going in the right direction within the maze.

Maddy was having trouble with minor Healing Spell, _Episkey_ , which had been Bella's idea since the former got hurt so easily, it was likely she would break her nose or something like that but it just wasn't working even though the wound was just a small paper cut.

While Maddy worked on this, Harry was working with the Shield Charm. This was supposed to cast a temporary, invisible wall around the caster that deflected minor curses; Hermione managed to shatter it with a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Harry wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterward before she had looked up the counter-jinx. It was actually pretty amusing.

"You're still doing really well, though," Hermione said encouragingly, looking down her list and crossing off those spells they had already learned. "Some of these are bound to come in handy."

"Come and look at this," said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. "What's Malfoy doing?"

The others went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be keeping a lookout; both were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth and speaking into it.

"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie," said Harry curiously.

"He can't be," said Hermione, "I've told you, those sorts of things don't work around Hogwarts. Come on, Harry," she added briskly, turning away from the window and moving back into the middle of the room, "let's try that Shield Charm again."

"Yeah, come on, Mads, we've gotta make sure you get that healing spell down!" Bella grabbed Maddy by the arm and dragged her over to where they had been practicing before.


	14. The Third Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, there's two chapter left after this one(and the next one has some explanations :D)! Sorry that this one isn't edited and is late, I am currently in my physics class

Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing Harry and Maddy a good-luck card from Sirius. It was only a piece of parchment, folded over and bearing a muddy paw print on its front and a quickly scrawled message to the both of them, but they appreciated it all the same.

A screech owl arrived for Hermione, carrying her morning copy of the _Daily Prophet_ as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over it.

"What?" said Harry, Bella and Ron together, everyone staring at her.

"Nothing," said Hermione quickly, trying to shove the paper out of sight, but Ron grabbed it.

He stared at the headline and said, "No way. Not today. That old cow."

"What?" said Harry. "Rita Skeeter again?"

"No," said Ron, and just like Hermione, he attempted to push the paper out of sight.

"It's about me, isn't it?" said Harry.

"No," said Ron, in an entirely unconvincing tone as Bella grabbed it, read it, shrieked and hid it behind her back where Seo-yun was able to grab it, quickly skim over the paper and then hand it over to Harry before one of the others could intercept it.

But before Harry could actually read the article, Draco Malfoy shouted across the Great Hall from the Slytherin table. "Hey, Potter! _Potter_! How's your head? You feeling all right? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?"

Malfoy was holding a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ too. Slytherins up and down the table were sniggering, twisting in their seats to see Harry's reaction.

Harry quickly turned the newspaper over and Maddy, looking over his shoulder, found herself staring at a picture of Harry, beneath the banner headline:

_**HARRY POTTER** _

" _ **DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"**_

 _The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous,_ writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent _. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School._

 _Potter, the_ Daily Prophet _can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him). On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your_ Daily Prophet _reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting too badly to continue studying._

_It is possible, say top experts at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potter's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, and that his insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion._

" _He might even be pretending," said one specialist. "This could be a plea for attention."_

 _The_ Daily Prophet _, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public._

" _Potter can speak Parseltongue," reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."_

_Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence."_

_Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Potter might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening._

"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?" said Harry lightly, folding up the paper.

"Wow, Bella, have you been slipping Harry an anti-anxiety too?" Maddy asked.

"No..." Bella shook her head.

"Why do you think I was slipped an anti-anxiety!" Harry exclaimed.

"You can be kinda hot tempered," Elliot replied.

"How did she know your scar hurt in Divination?" Ron said. "There's no way she was there, there's no way she could've heard..."

"The window was open," said Harry. "I opened it to breathe."

"You were at the top of North Tower!" Hermione said. "Your voice couldn't have carried all the way down to the grounds!"

"Well, you're the one who's supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging!" said Harry. "You tell me how she did it!"

"I've been trying!" said Hermione. "But I... but..." An odd, dreamy expression suddenly came over Hermione's face. She slowly raised a hand and ran her fingers through her hair.

"But what?" Elliot asked.

"Are you alright?" said Ron at the same time, frowning at her.

"Yes," said Hermione breathlessly. She ran her fingers through her hair again, and then held her hand up to her mouth, as though speaking into an invisible walkie-talkie. "I've had an idea," Hermione said, gazing into space, Bella lit up her wand and stuck it above Hermione's head like a lightbulb. "I think I know... because then no one would be able to see... even Moody... and she'd have been able to get onto the window ledge... but she's not allowed... she's _definitely_ not allowed... I think we've got her! Just give me two seconds in the library, just to make sure!" With that, Hermione seized her school bag and dashed out of the Great Hall.

"Oi!" Ron called after her. "We've got our History of Magic exam in ten minutes! Blimey," he said, turning back to the others, "she must really hate that Skeeter woman to risk missing the start of an exam. What're you two going to do in Binns's class, the usual?"

Harry and Maddy were exempt from exams, so Harry had been reading up on spells and Maddy had been looking at the different types of magical creatures she might run in to and how to deal with them.

"I might just skip," Maddy yawned. "Get some extra sleep in before the task, y'know."

"I guess I'll just read again," Harry added; but just then, Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward them.

"Potter, Mender, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.

"But the task's not till tonight!" said Harry, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, while Maddy slammed herself into Bella and tried to hide behind her incase she had mistaken the time.

"I'm aware of that, Potter," she said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."

She moved away. Harry gaped after her as Maddy sat up with a relieved sigh.

"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?" he asked blankly.

"Dunno," Ron shrugged.

"Ron, Elli, we gotta go!" Bella exclaimed. Standing up, grabbing the two by their arms and dragging them both after her, causing Seo-yun, who had been sitting on Elliot's lap, to stumble as she fell over onto bench.

"Ow?" Seo-yun said slowly.

"Sorry, Seo!"

"Okay, whatever, I guess? I've got to go to, I've got the Potions exam. See you guys later," she waved as she left the table.

"Well, Harry," Maddy turned to the only person left, "at least I don't have anyone to visit me also... We'll be alone together!"

The two slowly finished their breakfast, not really wanting to go into the chamber. They watch Fleur and Krum leave the Great Hall and everyone else going out into the Entrance Hall to get to their classes.

After a few minutes of just sitting and stalling, the door of the side chamber opened, and Fleur stuck her head out.

"Harry, Maddy, why're you just sitting there? They're waiting for you!"

"Who?" Maddy called back as she and Harry confusedly got to their feet.

"Your visitors, of course."

They walked across the Hall and opened the door into the chamber.

Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his father's hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother and a young girl who had to be her younger sister was holding her mother's hand.

Then Maddy spotted Mrs Weasley and Bill Weasley standing in front of the fireplace, beaming at her and Harry, and then just behind them, Maddy's mom and... _Hades_ were there. Why was Hades there! Maddy nearly choked on the air when she saw him.

She walked over to her parents, while Harry joined the Weasleys, and awkwardly said hello.

"Hello, kiddo," Maddy's mom smiled.

"Hey... er, father, sorry if this comes off as rude, but what exactly are you doing here?" Maddy asked. "Not that it isn't nice to see you or anything like that, it's just that shouldn't you be doing something? Like... a god thing?"

"I do have quite a lot of work to do," Hades replied, "however, I have been informed -and have personally sensed- that something important and potentially world changing should happen that involves this tournament."

"Of course," Maddy sighed. "Nothing can be easy..."

"Don't think about that now, Maddy," Ms Mender said quickly. "Just ignore that that's a thing! How are you?"

"Fine..."

"Good, good! Do you need any help with anything?"

"I think I've got it all covered," Maddy shrugged.

"That's great! Do you want to join Harry and the Weasleys?"

"I guess? If it stops you from being so weird."

"I'm not being weird!"

"Yes. You are. Now I'm going to go over to the Weasleys..." Maddy walked over to the Weasleys and said, "Hey, Mrs Weasley, Bill."

"Hello, Maddy!" Mrs Weasley waved. "Is this your mother and... er, father?"

"Yeah, these are my parents, Eleanor Mender and, uh, Lord Hades..." she then turned to her dad and said, "Sorry about disclosing your existence to the wizarding world, by the way."

"It was inevitable," Hades sighed. "And you weren't the first, people will forget eventually."

"Oh, good...?"

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both," Mrs Weasley smiled and held out her hand to shake. Ms Mender shook it warmly while Hades, predictably, ignored the offer.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs Weasley," Maddy's mom smiled. "I've had the pleasure of working with your husband a few times and he's said quite a bit about you."

"Hello, Maddy," Bill said as the two mothers continued to converse.

"Hey."

"Harry was about to take us on a tour of the castle, d'you want to join?"

"I don't see why not," Maddy shrugged.

After the tour, Maddy, her mother, Harry, the Weasleys and Hades -who was basically just walking behind the others and keeping a watchful eye out- entered the Great Hall where Ron said a shocked hello to his family and Bella happily cheered, "Hello, Ms Mender! Who is-" she broke off and began to quietly and shrill shriek.

"Bella, stop," Maddy irritably said as she sat down with her parents.

"What? What is it?" Seo-yun asked.

"This is my dad."

"Nevermind, I understand. I'll just... get some more food..." She began to shovel more food onto her plate.

"It's great to meet you, Mr Hades," Elliot began with an extended hand, "Elliot de la Mare, huge fan."

Maddy and Bella slammed their faces into their hands while Hades paused, taken aback, and replied.

"This has been a verys trang day..." Maddy said as this happened.

"Yeah, I can imagine..." Bella agreed.

Fred, George, and Ginny came to sit next to them. Everyone at least seemed to be having a really fun time, and not until Hermione turned up, halfway through lunch, did Maddy remember that she had had a brainwave about Rita Skeeter.

"Are you going to tell us-?" Harry started but Hermione shook her head warningly and glanced at Mrs Weasley.

"Hello, Hermione," said Mrs Weasley, much more stiffly than usual.

"Hello," said Hermione, her smile faltering at the cold expression on Mrs Weasley's face.

"Mrs Weasley, you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in the _Daily Prophet_ , did you? Because Hermione's not my girlfriend," Harry said, laughing a little at the end.

"Oh!" said Mrs Weasley. "No, of course I didn't!" But she became considerably warmer toward Hermione after that.

Harry, Bill and Mrs Weasley left to walk around outside after lunch, but Maddy and her parents went down to the dungeon, Ms Mender tried to convince her to let them into the Slytherin common room -apparently while she had been in school, Maddy's mom and a few of her other Hufflepuff friends had attempted to break into the common room multiple times but never succeeded.

Afterwards they returned to the Great Hall for the evening feast. Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge had joined the staff table now. Bagman looked quite cheerful, but Cornelius Fudge, who was sitting next to Madame Maxime, looked stern and was not talking. Madame Maxime was concentrating on her plate, and Maddy thought her eyes looked red. Hagrid kept glancing along the table at her.

There were more courses than usual, but Maddy, who was getting more and more nervous by the minute, didn't eat anything more than a few red potatoes.

As the enchanted ceiling overhead began to fade from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore rose to his feet at the staff table, and silence fell. "Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now."

"Oh gods, no," Maddy moaned, "someone please cut off a limb."

"With this again?" Elliot sighed.

" _Again_?" Seo-yun asked under her breath.

"Maddy, no," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Again, there are prosthetics that can be applied immediately and be used immediately," Bella reminded her. "It would just be best for you to go ahead and get it over with, besides, it's not like you're going into water again."

"Okay, fair enough..." Maddy sighed and stood up with Harry, the two walked away with good luck wishes from the others. They joined the other champions, as well as Bagman and Mr Crouch at the bottom of the steps outside on the grounds.

The six of them walked to the now unrecognizable Quidditch field with a twenty foot high hedge running all the way around the edge of it. There was a gap right in front of them: the entrance to the vast maze. The passage beyond it looked dark and creepy.

Five minutes later, the stands had begun to fill; the air was full of excited voices and the rumbling of feet as the hundreds of students filed into their seats. The sky was a deep, clear blue now, and the first stars were starting to appear. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick came walking into the stadium and approached Bagman and the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, all except Hagrid, who had his on the back of his moleskin vest.

"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," said Professor McGonagall to the champions. "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you, do you understand?" The champions nodded.

"Off you go, then!" said Bagman brightly to the four patrollers.

"Good luck, Harry. Good luck, Maddy," Hagrid whispered, and the four of them walked away in different directions, to station themselves around the maze.

Bagman now pointed his wand at his throat, muttered, " _Sonorus_ ," and his magically magnified voice echoed into the stands. "Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! In first place, with eighty-five points - Mr Harry Potter, of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky. "Tied in second place, with eighty points each - Mr Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute and Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic!" More applause. "And in third place - Miss Madeline Mender of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

"So... on my whistle, Harry!" said Bagman. "Three... two... one!" He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry hurried forward into the maze.

"Now, again on my whistle, Fleur and Viktor! Three... two... one!" He blew his whistle a second time and the two second place champions entered the maze as well, leaving just Maddy.

"And finally, Maddy, on my whistle!" Three... two... one!" Another whistle blow and Maddy quickly walked into the maze.

As soon as she entered, everything went quiet, wheather because of it's size and density or because it was enchanted, she wasn't sure why. She could see the faint glow of the other champion's illuminated wands, but she didn't bother to do so as well since she already knew she would be unable to do it. Instead, she placed her hand on the right side of the maze and began to follow it. She knew that if she would eventually get everywhere within the maze if she just continued to follow it. It wasn't a quick way, but at least she wouldn't get lost.

Maddy walked for a long time without anything happening, it was honestly unnerving. She shouldn't have been able to go so long without something else getting to her. Normally the things that she figured would be in the maze flocked to her, as it is with most demigods.

Eventually, she got frustrated with her plan and said, " _Point Me_." Her wand spun around and pointed to Maddy's left. She turned the closest she could to the direction her wand pointed at.

The path ahead was empty too, and when Maddy reached a left turn and took it, she again found his way unblocked. The lack of obstacles was starting to unnerve her even more. Surely she should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring her into a false sense of security.

Then she heard movement right behind her. She held out her wand, ready to attack, but then she spotted Harry, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. He looked severely shaken. The sleeve of his robe was smoking.

"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" he hissed. "They're _enormous_ \- I only just got away!"

"Okay, we should go far away then," Maddy said, to which Harry nodded and they both quickly walked in the direction maddy had originally been going.

"D'you think we should go in separate directions now?" Harry asked when they reached a fork in the path.

Maddy shrugged, "I don't really care a whole lot..."

They ended up going in opposite directions.

Soon, Maddy ran into three giant spiders. Acromantulas. She had read about them in her book and began to wrack her brain about what the spell was to stun them as she ran in the opposite direction of the spiders, which were doing an impressive job of staying on her heels.

Finally, Maddy remembered the spell, spun on her heel, aimed her wand and shouted, " _Arania Exumai_!"

A blue burst of energy shot from her wand and knocked into the three spiders, making them shoot backwards, but otherwise the Acromantulas were motionless.

Maddy made her way down the path, stepping over tangled spider limbs as she did so.

Left, right, another right, left, and so on, the daughter of Hades turned until she made a sharp left turn and was face-to-face with a fire-breathing, lion-headed, goat-bodied, snake-tailed monster. A chimera. Fantastic. A monster.

" _Protego_!" Maddy shouted immediately, bringing up a shield in front of her just in time to avoid getting a face full of flames.

She instinctively brought out her spear and kept up the shield. She jabbed at the monster's head, but as she did this, it's snake-tail shot around behind her and bit into her leg. Maddy shrieked as she spun around, effectively slicing off the head of the snake.

" _Bombarda_!" she shouted and a short burst of fire that exploded against the hide of the monster shot out of the tip of Maddy's wand as the shield dissipated.

The chimera flew backwards from the force of the explosion and Maddy ran towards the mildly dazed monster and plunged her spear into it's chest. It let out one last roar as it dissolves into a golden dust and then flew into the stygian iron of her blade.

Then she noticed that she had met up with Harry again.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Chimera, they suck," Maddy replied, full of adrenaline despite the dull throb in her lower leg.

Just a few moments later, the fresh silence was ripped apart by a high pitched scream that was nearby and could only belong to Fleur.

Without hesitation and without saying a word, they both ran in the direction of the scream, soon coming across two people, one person, Fleur, writhing on pain on ground and someone else, Krum, standing over her.

" _What the fuck_!" Maddy yelled as Harry aimed his wand at Krum and stupefied him.

"Holy shit, Fleur, are you okay!" Maddy asked as she dropped to her knees.

She didn't reply, she had passed out.

Harry shot up red sparks for both Fleur and Krum.

"That's... surprising..." Harry said. "I know he wants to win but I didn't think he would use an Unforgivable Curse..."

"Yeah," Maddy nodded. "I hope Fleur'll be okay... the Cruciatus Curse can cause a lot of damage to nerves and stuff."

"Yeah... hopefully Madam Pomfrey'll be able to help her..."

"Well, we're the only ones left now. Should we split up or stay together this time?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter which of us wins..." Harry said, "and neither of us really need to money or fame, so I guess we should stay together?"

"Good point, I agree, lets get a move on and finish this as quickly as possible," Maddy nodded and the two continued on in the maze, guided by Harry's wand as he used the Four-Point spell.

Every so often they hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made Maddy feel sure they were getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as they strode down a long, straight path, she saw movement, and as Harry's beam of wandlight they spotted an extraordinary creature, one which they had only seen in picture form, in they're _Monster Book of Monsters_.

It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon the two as they approached. Harry raised his wand hesitantly but Maddy just stood there, waiting for the sphinx's riddle.

The sphinx was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice.

"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."

"So.. so will you move, please?" Harry asked.

Maddy swiftly shoved him in his ribs and said, "Sphinxes give riddles, Harry, have you not read about them?"

"No," she said, continuing to pace. "Not unless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess, I let you pass. Answer wrongly, I attack. Remain silent, I will let you walk away from me unscathed."

Harry was pausing as if thinking but Maddy just immediately said, "Alright, what's the riddle?"

The sphinx sat down upon her hind legs, in the very middle of the path, and recited, "First think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, the middle of middle and end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Harry gaped at her. "Could I have it again... more slowly?" he asked tentatively. She blinked at him, smiled, and repeated the poem. "All the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?" Harry asked.

"A.K.A. everything. Not my answer, I'm just making a note," Maddy clarified.

The sphinx merely smiled her mysterious smile.

Maddy started to think through the clues along with Harry.

"A person in disguise," Harry muttered, staring at her, "who lies... er... that'd be a - an imposter."

"Lier," Maddy supplied. "M... no, never mind, I don't know."

"A spy, maybe? We'll come back to that. Could you give me the next clue again, please?" She repeated the next lines of the poem. " ' _The last thing to mend,_ ' " Harry repeated. "Er... no idea..."

"No clue."

"'The middle of middle...' could I have the last bit again?" She gave him the last four lines. "'The sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word,'" said Harry. "Er... that'd be... er..."

"Gods damn it, Harry, it's 'er,'" Maddy sighed.

"Oh, right! Spy... er... spy... er..."

" _Spider!_ " Maddy exclaimed at the Sphinx.

The sphinx smiled more broadly. She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for him to pass.

"Thanks!" said Harry as the two moved on, eventually breaking into a run as they followed Harry's wand.

They made a right turn and they saw the Triwizard Cup gleaming on a plot about a hundred yards away.

"Oh thank the gods, this'll all be over!" Maddy exclaimed as she and Harry drew nearer to the cup, completely unhindered other than Maddy's slight limp from the chimera poison.

Then, right before they got to the cup, one of them, Maddy honestly couldn't tell which of them, tripped, making the other fall as well.

They both collapsed, slamming into the cup simultaneously and almost instantly, Maddy felt a foreign jerk near her navel. She and Harry had left the ground, both of them grasping onto the cup and both of them spinning through a wave of colours that all blended together.

And then they slammed into the ground.


	15. The Graveyard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I update last week? I honestly don't remember  
> Anyways, I have braces now and it feels like a demon is fucking with my teeth lmao

"Ow..." Maddy groaned. "What was that?"

"Portkey," Harry replied, clutching his stomach where he had been jabbed by one of the handles of the cup.

"Whatever that was it was not porky."

"No, portkey. It's a method of transportation."

"Well I fucking _love_ it, where are we?"

"No clue," Harry said as he got to his feet. "Looks like a graveyard... you should stand up."

"So that's why if feels so homey. Also no, I'm feeling kinda sick from that whirling nonsense, why is wizard travel so awful? With shadow travel there's a bit of spinning but not _that_ much," Maddy whined.

"C'mon, help me look around," Harry grabbed Maddy's arm and began to pull her up.

"How dare you, Harry," Maddy said when she got to her feet. "I was comfortable and I actually think my leg should probably not have weight put on it, there's poison in there."

Harry flung Maddy's arm around his neck so he was supporting her wounded leg.

"Harry, why won't you let me-"

"Someone's coming," he interrupted, holding his wand out in defence.

They spotted a figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Maddy couldn't make out a face, but from the way they were walking and holding their arms, she could tell that they were carrying something. Whoever it was, they were short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over their head to obscure their face. And -several paces nearer -the gap between them closing all the time- Maddy saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby... or was it merely a bundle of robes?

Harry lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Maddy. She shot him a quizzical look. They both turned back to watch the approaching figure.

They stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from the fourth years. For a second, Harry and Maddy and the short figure simply looked at one another. And then, without warning, Harry dropped his wand and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

Since Maddy had her arm around Harry's shoulders she dropped along with him, yelping in alarm as she did so. She removed her arm from Harry's neck and watched him in concern.

" _Incarcerous!"_ The person hissed and suddenly Maddy was completely bound, gagged and losing the feelings in her appendages.

Maddy tried to scream through the coarse ropes in her mouth but it just came out as garbled nonsense. Then, the person grabbed her and Harry by the collars of their shirts and began to drag them, apparently they had put down the bundle.

Maddy was roughly dropped against a headstone and left while Harry was slammed against another, larger headstone that he was then tied to.

The person hit Harry across the face when he struggled.

"You!" Harry exclaimed. "Wormt-!" but he couldn't finish his exclamation as he was gagged.

So it was Peter Pettigrew?

As Pettigrew worked, a giant snake slithered through the grass around them. Pettigrew's fast, wheezy breathing was growing louder from somewhere outside of Maddy's field of vision. It sounded as though he was forcing something heavy across the ground. Then he came back within her range of vision, and she saw him pushing a stone cauldron to the foot of the grave. It was full of some sort of liquid and it was larger than any cauldron Maddy had ever used; a great stone belly large enough for a full-grown man to sit in.

The thing inside the bundle of robes on the ground was stirring more persistently, as though it was trying to free itself. Now Pettigrew was busying himself at the bottom of the cauldron with a wand. Suddenly there were crackling names beneath it. The large snake slithered away into the darkness. The liquid in the cauldron seemed to heat very fast. The surface began not only to bubble, but to send out fiery sparks, as though it were on fire. Steam was thickening, blurring the outline of Pettigrew tending the fire. The movements beneath the robes became more agitated. And Maddy heard a high, cold voice that sent chills rippling through her.

"Hurry!"

The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now. It might have been encrusted with diamonds.

"It is ready. Master."

"Now..." said the cold voice. Pettigrew pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them, and Maddy could hear Harry let out a strangled yell.

It was as though Pettigrew had flipped over a stone and revealed something ugly, slimy, and blind - but worse, a hundred times worse. The thing he had been carrying had the shape of a crouched human child, except that Maddy had never seen anything less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble, and its face - no child alive ever had a face like that - flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes. The thing seemed almost helpless; it raised its thin arms, put them around Pettigrew's neck, and he lifted it. As he did so, his hood fell back, and Maddy saw the look of revulsion on Pettigrew's weak, pale face in the firelight as he carried the creature to the rim of the cauldron and then Pettigrew lowered the creature into the cauldron; there was a hiss, and it vanished below the surface; Maddy heard its frail body hit the bottom with a soft thud.

She desperately wanted it to drown, she was praying to all the gods that it would drown. There was something just flat out wrong with it, it had the feeling of someone that had evaded death, and something that just wasn't human. Something was wrong with that _thing_ and it needed to _die_.

Pettigrew was speaking. His voice shook; he seemed frightened beyond his wits. He raised his wand, closed his eyes, and spoke to the night.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"

The surface of the grave at Harry's feet cracked. Maddy watched a small trickle of dust rise into the air at Pettigrew's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The diamond surface of the water broke and hissed; it sent sparks in all directions and turned a vivid, poisonous-looking blue.

And now Pettigrew was whimpering. He pulled a long, thin, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak. His voice broke into petrified sobs.

"Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master. "

He stretched his right hand out in front of him - the hand with the missing finger. He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward. He let out a blood curdling scream as he brought the knife down upon his hand, which fell off of his wrist and plopped into the potion with a gross, thick sounding splash.

The potion turned a burning red.

Pettigrew was gasping and moaning with agony as he walked closer to Harry.

"B-blood of the enemy..." he started when he got to him, "forcibly taken... you will... resurrect your foe."

Pettigrew's knife penetrated the crook of Harry's right arm, drawing out a strangled cry of pain, and blood started seeping down the sleeve of his torn robes. Pettigrew, still panting with pain, rustled around in his pocket for a glass vial and held it to Harry's cut, so that a dribble of blood fell into it.

He staggered back to the cauldron with Harry's blood. He poured it inside. The liquid within turned, instantly, a blinding white. Pettigrew, his job done, dropped to his knees beside the cauldron, then slumped sideways and lay on the ground, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping and sobbing.

The cauldron was simmering, sending its diamond sparks in all directions, so blindingly bright that it turned all else to velvety blackness.

Nothing happened.

 _Please, please, please, let it be dead_ , Maddy pleaded. _Father, Thanatos, Tyche, anyone, please LET IT BE DEAD_.

And then, suddenly, the sparks emanating from the cauldron were extinguished. A surge of white steam billowed thickly from the cauldron instead, obliterating everything in front of Maddy, so that she couldn't see Pettigrew or Harry or anything but vapor hanging in the air. But then, through the mist in front of her, she saw, with an icy surge of terror, the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, rising slowly from inside the cauldron.

"Robe me," said the high, cold voice from behind the steam, and Pettigrew, sobbing and moaning, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one handed over his master's head.

The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry.

Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's with slits for nostrils...

Lord Voldemort had risen again.

This must have been what Hades was talking about. He knew something like this would happen. He should be able to sense it happening and come to help, _right_?

Maddy closed her eyes and began to pray even harder, hoping that her thoughts would reach her father. Or Tyche, really any god that could and would help.

"My Lord..." Pettigrew choked, "my Lord... you promised... you did promise..."

"Hold out your arm," said Voldemort lazily.

"Oh Master... thank you, Master..."

Voldemort laughed and said, "The other arm, Wormtail."

"Master, please... please..."

"It is back," he said softly, "they will all have noticed it... and now, we shall see... now we shall know..."

Maddy opened her eyes just in time to see Voldemort pressing down on Pettigrew's forearm, in particular a tattoo of the dark mark, as Pettigrew screamed.

"How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" he whispered, his gleaming red eyes fixed upon the stars. "And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?" A pause. "Where is Eris?"

"Oh, I was afraid you would never ask, Tom," a tall, dark haired woman suddenly appeared a few feet away from Voldemort. Maddy froze, staring at her in complete fear. "I've been here. Watching. And know, little miss daughter of Hades, that there is no one to help you. On the list of perks that come with being a god the fact that I can keep other gods away from me is pretty far up there."

"I should have expected nothing less," Voldemort nodded and turned to Harry. He began to speak with him while Eris crouched to be face-to-face with Maddy.

"Now, don't think that you don't have any problems. Your problems are just beginning. Oh no, we won't kill you," she said at the fear in Maddy's eyes, "although that probably doesn't scare you, being the daughter of the god of the underworld. See, what we're going to do is keep you. I won't tell you why, I'm not some idiotic movie villain who reveals their whole plan so that's all the preparation you'll be getting." With that the goddess of chaos lept to her feet.

Voldemort was still talking to Harry at this point, Maddy only heard what he said from, "why, I am growing quite sentimental... But look, Harry! My true family returns..."

The air was suddenly full of the swishing of cloaks. Between graves, behind the yew tree, in every shadowy space, wizards were Apparating. All of them were hooded and masked. And one by one they moved forward... slowly, cautiously, as though they could hardly believe their eyes Voldemort stood in silence, waiting for them. Then one  
of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled toward Voldemort and kissed the hem of his black robes.

"Master... Master..." he murmured.

The Death Eaters behind him did the same; each of them approaching Voldemort on their knees and kissing his robes, before backing away and standing up, forming a silent circle, which enclosed Harry, Maddy, Eris, Voldemort and the sobbing and twitching heap that was Wormtail. Yet they left gaps in the circle, as though waiting for more people. Voldemort, however, did not seem to expect more. He looked around at the hooded faces, and though there was no wind rustling seemed to run around the circle, as though it had shivered.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," said Voldemort quietly. "Thirteen years... thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday, we are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?"

He put back his terrible face and sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening.

"I smell guilt," he said. "There is a stench or guilt upon the air.

A shiver ran around the circle, as though each member of it longed, but did not dare to step back from him.

"I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact, such prompt appearances! and I ask myself... why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"

No one spoke. No one moved except Wormtail, who was upon the ground, still sobbing over his bleeding arm.

"And I answer myself," whispered Voldemort, "they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment..."

At this point Maddy had tuned out, thinking more about how she could possibly get free with Harry. Shadow travel wasn't an option since Eris had prevented even Hades from getting to the graveyard, she had probably made shadow travelling away impossible as well.

Maybe she could manipulate the shadows to cut the ropes?

She tried it.

Nothing happened.

Voldemort was still monologuing, gods that man loved to hear himself speak, didn't he?

Maddy started paying attention again when Pettigrew stopped sobbing and shakily whispered, "My Lord... Master... it is beautiful... thank you... thank you..." He now had a glistening, silver hand in place of the one he had chopped off.

He scrambled forward on his knees and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail," said Voldemort.

"No, my Lord... never, my Lord..."

Pettigrew stood up and took his place in the circle, staring at his powerful new hand, his face still shining with tears. Voldemort now approached the man on Pettigrew's right.

"Lucius, my slippery friend," he whispered, halting before him. "I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius... Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay... but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?"

"My Lord, I was constantly on the alert," came Lucius Malfoy's voice swiftly from beneath the hood. "Had there been any sign of you, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me-"

"And yet you ran from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?" said Voldemort lazily, and Mr Malfoy stopped talking abruptly. "Yes, I know all about that, Lucius... You have disappointed me... I expect more faithful service in the future."

"Of course, my Lord, of course... You are merciful, thank you..."

Voldemort moved on, and stopped, staring at the space -large enough for three people- that separated Malfoy and the next man.

"The Lestranges should stand here," said Voldemort quietly. "But they are entombed in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me... When Azkaban is broken open, the Lestranges will be honored beyond their dreams. The dementors will join us... they are our natural allies... we will recall the banished giants... I shall have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures whom all fear..."

He walked on. Some of the Death Eaters he passed in silence, but he paused before others and spoke to them.

"Macnair... destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide..."

"Thank you, Master... thank you," murmured Macnair.

"And here-" Voldemort moved on to the two largest hooded figures "-we have Crabbe... you will do better this time, will you not, Crabbe? And you, Goyle?"

They bowed clumsily, muttering dully.

"Yes, Master..."

"We will, Master..."

"The same goes for you, Nott," said Voldemort quietly as he walked past a stooped figure in Mr Goyles shadow.

"My Lord, I prostrate myself before you, I am your most faithful-"

"That will do," said Voldemort.

He next stopped in front of two Death Eaters, both tall, both lanky.

"Ah the de la Mares. I hear the both of you were also a part of this summer's world cup event and that you, Lazarus, have taken up work as a member of the Ministry of Magic's Department of Historical Artifacts and you, Dioxippe, rarely leave your house for anything other than your fictional book signings."

"That is true, Master," a woman, Mrs de la Mare, Elliot's mom, nodded as her husband echoed her actions.

"Well, Dioxippe, you will have real people to mimicked the actions of your books," at this Maddy saw Mrs de la Mare grin under her mask, "and you, Lazarus, will have something much more interesting than old artifacts."

"Yes, my lord, I am looking forward to it," Mr de la Mare nodded.

"I hear your son, no, daughter now, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Mrs de la Mare nodded.

Voldemort sneered. "Either way, I here that your _child_ has been an utter disappointment."

"My lord, if you please," Mr de la Mare began, "she is a Slytherin, she is a parselmouth, she has top grades-"

"All of this is meaningless if she associates with our little guests here," Voldemort interrupted him.

"We'll fix that," Mrs de la Mare said determinedly. "We will stop her, we will go to whatever lengths to bring her to our side!"

"That is enough, just do it, she could be an excellent asset from what I've been told."

"Yes, master," the de la Mares said in unison.

Voldemort had reached the largest gap of all, and he stood surveying it with his blank, red eyes, as though he could see people standing there.

"And here we have six missing Death Eaters... three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return... he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever... he will be killed, of course... and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service."

"He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friends arrived here tonight...

"Yes," said Voldemort, a grin curling his lipless mouth as the eyes of the circle flashed in Harry and Maddy's direction.

"Harry Potter and the child of the death god have kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call them my guests of honour."

There was a silence. Then the Death Eater to the right of Pettigrew stepped forward, and Lucius Malfoy's voice spoke from under the mask.

"Master, we crave to know... we beg you to tell us... how you have achieved this... this miracle... how you managed to return to us..."

"Ah, what a story it is, Lucius," said Voldemort. "And it begins -and ends- with my young friend here."

At this point Maddy tuned out again and began to watch Eris.

The goddess was watching what was happening from the shadows of the largest headstone with an air of curious superiority. She had a confident smirk on her face as she waited for something, probably the time when she would be introduced or something else along those lines.

Maddy was pulled back into reality when a strangled scream ripped through the air.

Harry was convulsing in pain as Voldemort performed what Maddy could only assume to be the Cruciatus Curse on the black haired boy.

She watched in in horror until Voldemort stopped and Harry was hanging limply in the ropes binding him to the headstone. The night was ringing with the sound of the Death Eaters' laughter.

"You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me," said Voldemort. "But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him. I will give him his chance. He will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini," he whispered, and the snake glided away through the grass to where the Death Eaters stood watching.

Eris cleared her throat.

"I'll be interjecting here," she said as she stepped forward, out if the shadows. "We can get to the dueling in a minute, he's not going anywhere. Hi, hello there, Death Eaters. You are probably wondering who I am to interrupt your master or lord or whatever you call him. I don't really care. Well, I am Eris. That's right, you heard right. I am the goddess of chaos.

"Now, as you have all probably been wondering why this young lady is with us," she patted Maddy on head here, "I'm going to sort of explain it now. As all of you should know, Miss Madeline Mender here is a daughter of Hades. What none if you probably know is that the blood of a demigod is a powerful potion ingredient.

"There is a particular potion that you can make out of it and with this potion you can get any number of... powers, shall we say, that correspond with the demigod. Little Miss Death here could make you immortal or any other sort of power, I don't know. It depends on a lot."

Eris shrugged here and everyone was quiet. Tense and quiet.

"Now that's enough if this babble," Eris chuckled, "it's boring and for a later time. See, I'll be draining this girl like a hog. Except she'll still be alive afterwards..."

A sharp dagger had appeared in the goddess's hand. She roughly grabbed Maddy by the shoulder, carried her over to a large basin that had previously gone unnoticed and dangled her precariously over it, facing it, unable to see anything else.

"Let's see... yes, good... you've already got a scar on your back prepared for me!"

Maddy felt the dagger break some of the ropes -though she still couldn't move her arms- and then the fabric on her back, exposing her skin to the air. Then, the dagger hovered over a small crook of her back before Eris sliced downwards, drawing out a pain filled scream from the daughter of Hades as she grabbed her by the hair and positioned her so the blood would spill into the basin.

"Go ahead Tom..." Eris said boredly. "I've finished my part."

"Very well," Voldemort almost hissed. "Untie him, Wormtail. And give him back his wand."

Maddy had no clue what was happening now. She could see anywhere but up, and even there it was already getting splotchy, and she sure as Hades couldn't hear anything after that. It was all drowned out by a horrible rushing sound thrumming in her ears and it just grew louder and louder as her vision became more and more overtaken by large, black spots.

And then there was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left bois


	16. Not Dead Yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it's the last chapter and it's short. I can't say when abouts I should be done with OotP since I've been putting more focus into my own original story, and lots of lying there while wishing I was asleep

Everything was white.

So Maddy _wasn't_ dead.

She blinked slowly as she looked around without moving her head. Her neck -well her entire body- felt stiff and unmovable.

"She's awake!" Someone yelled happily, causing a cacophony of noise as people shuffled over to her, asking questions that all overlapped with one another.

Maddy really didn't think she should move her back, so she settled for turning her head to survey her surroundings and see who was around her.

She was in the hospital wing and Hermione, Harry, Bella, Elliot, Seo-yun and Fleur were standing around her.

"I have one question," Maddy said, "how long was I out?"

"Just over a week," Hermione replied.

"Okay. Now that I know that, I'm going to go back to sleep. I am tired and in pain. Only wake me up after twenty-four hours at the earliest and only see me two at a time at most."

"Maddy-"

"I ALMOST DIED," Maddy said loudly and pulled the blanket up over her head.

* * *

The next few days were pretty surreal, Maddy was stuck in the hospital wing, but she wasn't really complaining, her back hurt _a lot_ , but there were still a lot of things going on.

On the day that she woke up, Harry explained to Maddy what had happened. Apparently, Moody hadn't actually been Moody. He was Mr Couch's son, who was _not_ dead and was using Polyjuice Potion _and_ keeping the real Moody in a suitcase. Barty Crouch Jr had apparently been the whole reason Maddy and Harry had suffered, he orchestrated all of it, he even wanted Maddy to reveal that gods were real. There was a lot of other stuff that Maddy honestly couldn't remember but basically _everything_ that had happened that year was because of either Voldemort or Barty Crouch Jr.

"So how did you get me away from Eris?" Maddy asked Harry. "Kudos for that, by the way."

"Well, after she figured she had enough blood she dropped you and-"

"She _dropped_ me? That hurts me, like emotionally. More than the slicing up my back thing even."

"Really?"

"Yes. Also, why did she disgrace me so?"

"Er... she said something about being bored, I think."

"How dare she."

"Yeah, but then I grabbed you and summoned the Triwizard Cup and that's pretty much how I got you away from Eris. I got away from Voldemort because of some weird thing with our wands, I think Dumbledore called it _Priori Incantatem_? He said that it happened because the core of our wands come from the same pheonix... it brought out the last people that he had killed as ghosts and they helped."

"Neat," Maddy said shortly. "What'd you do with the winnings?"

"Er... I gave it to Fred and George so they could start their business, you know, Weasley Wizard Wheezes? Sorry I didn't ask you."

"Nah, it's fine. I don't need money."

* * *

Maddy was let out of the hospital wing on the last day of term and when she walked into the Great Hall for the feast, instead of the colours of the winning house in terms of points like usual, there was a mixture of the Gryffindor and Slytherin colours.

The real Mad-Eye Moody was at the staff table now. He was extremely twitchy, jumping every time someone spoke to him. Maddy couldn't blame him; Moody's fear of attack was bound to have been increased by his ten-month imprisonment in his own trunk. Professor Karkaroff's chair was empty.

Maddy joined Elliot at the Slytherin table, feeling kind of weird about it since it had been so long since there had been a feast where she had actually done was she was supposed to do and sit with her house.

"Welcome back," Elliot said lazily. "Be careful with your back, don't open it back up."

"Wow, that's really nice for you," Maddy commented.

"Seo told me to tell you that, although I might like it if you just started spurting blood all over me... or not... I don't know, it depends on people's reactions. That's what makes it fun."

"Well, it's completely healed, Elliot, so you won't be finding out if you want it to happen or not."

"The end," said Dumbledore, looking around at them all, bringing everyone to a stop in their conversations, "of another year. There is much that I have to say tonight and I must start by saying that Lord Voldemort has returned.

"The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so, either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and the fact that we nearly lost the life of one of our students, Miss Maddy Mender, because of him, as well as a goddess, is a direct insult to her."

"It is!" Maddy shouted. "It _is_ an insult!"

Stunned and frightened, every face in the Hall was turned toward Dumbledore now... or almost every face. A few seats down, Draco Malfoy was muttering something to Crabbe and Goyle.

"Now join me in raising a glass to this brave Slytherin."

Everyone muttered her name with their goblets raised and took a sip while Maddy herself sunk down in her seat a bit her face turning bright red.

"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with this event," Dumbledore went on. "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter." A kind of ripple crossed the Great Hall as a few heads turned in Harry's direction before flicking back to face Dumbledore. "Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore. "He risked his own life to return Maddy, who was unconscious at the time, to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honour him."

Dumbledore turned gravely to Harry and raised his goblet once more. Nearly everyone in the Great Hall followed suit. They murmured his name as they did with Maddy, and drank to him, although many of the other fourth year Slytherins had remained defiantly in their seats, their goblets untouched. Dumbledore, who after all possessed no magical eye, did not see them.

Dumbledore continued, "The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened -of Lord Voldemort's return- such ties are more important than ever before." Dumbledore looked from Madame Maxime and Hagrid, to Fleur Delacour and her fellow Beauxbatons students, to Viktor Krum and the Durmstrangs at the Slytherin table. Krum, Maddy saw, looked wary, almost frightened, as though he expected Dumbledore to say something harsh.

"Every guest in this Hall," said Dumbledore, and his eyes lingered upon the Durmstrang students, "will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again, in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

"It is my belief -and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken- that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder.

"Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember your friends here. Remember the new people you met. Think about the girl who nearly died two weeks ago. Madeline Mender is kind and brave and she was nearly killed simply because of her parentage. Do not allow anyone else to become a victim for something so trivial."

Everyone turned to looks at Maddy, who simply shrugged and said to Elliot, "Not that accurate of a description, but I'll take it."

"Good choice," Elliot nodded. "You'll go down as a living martyr."

* * *

The weather could not have been more different on the journey back to King's Cross than it had been on their way to Hogwarts the previous September. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Maddy, Harry, Bella, Ron, and Hermione had managed to get a compartment to themselves, Elliot was sitting with her new Hufflepuff friends and Seo-yun in a separate compartment.

Pigwidgeon was hidden under Ron's dress robes to stop him from hooting continually; Hedwig was dozing, her head under her wing, and Crookshanks was curled up in a spare seat like a large, furry ginger cushion.

The five of them talked more fully and freely than they had all week as the train sped them southward.

They broke off their conversation about what action Dumbledore might be taking, even now, to stop Voldemort only when the lunch trolley arrived. When Hermione and Bella returned from the trolley and put their money back into their respective money holders, Hermione dislodged a copy of the Daily Prophet that she had been carrying in there.

Maddy looked at it, unsure whether she really wanted to know what it might say, but Hermione, seeing her looking at it, said calmly, "There's nothing in there. You can look for yourself, but there's nothing at all. I've been checking every day. Just a small piece the day after the third task saying you both won the tournament. They didn't even mention You-Know-Who. Nothing about any of it. If you ask me, Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet."

"He'll never keep Rita quiet," said Harry. "Not on a story like this."

"Oh, Rita hasn't written anything at all since the third task," said Hermione in an oddly constrained voice. "As a matter of fact," she added, her voice now trembling slightly, "Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her."

"What are you talking about?" said Ron.

"I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be coming onto the grounds," said Hermione in a rush.

"Oooh! Do tell!" Bella exclaimed excitedly.

"How did you find out?" said Ron, staring at her.

"Well, it was you, really, who gave me the idea, Harry," she said.

"Did I?" said Harry, perplexed. "How?"

" _Bugging_ ," said Hermione happily.

"But you said they didn't work-"

"Oh not electronic bugs," said Hermione. "No, you see... Rita Skeeter-" Hermione's voice trembled with quiet triumph "-is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn-" Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag, "-into a beetle."

"You're kidding," said Ron. "You haven't... she's not..."

"Oh _yes she is_ ," said Hermione happily, brandishing the jar at them. Inside were a few twigs and leaves and one large, fat beetle.

"That's never - you're kidding-" Ron whispered, lifting the jar to his eyes as Maddy and Bella both burst into unrestrained laughter.

"That's fucking amazing!" Bella cried. "You're brilliant!"

"Hermione, you're the best," Maddy grinned.

"Thank you," said Hermione, beaming. "I caught her on the windowsill in the hospital wing. Look very closely, and you'll notice the markings around her antennae are exactly like those foul glasses she wears."

Maddy looked and saw that she was quite right.

"There was a beetle on the statue the night we heard Hagrid telling Madame Maxime about his mum!" Harry exclaimed.

"Exactly," said Hermione. "And Fleur pulled a beetle out of my hair after we'd had our conversation by the lake. And unless I'm very much mistaken, Rita was perched on the windowsill of the Divination class the day your scar hurt _and_ when Maddy was talking to Dumbledore about her dad. She's been buzzing around for stories all year."

"When we saw Malfoy under that tree..." said Ron slowly.

"He was talking to her, in his hand," said Hermione. "He knew, of course. That's how she's been getting all those nice little interviews with the Slytherins. They wouldn't care that she was doing something illegal, as long as they were giving her horrible stuff about us and Hagrid." Hermione took the glass jar back from Ron and smiled at the beetle, which buzzed angrily against the glass.

"I've told her I'll let her out when we get back to London," said Hermione. "I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And I've told her she's to keep her quill to herself for a whole year. See if she can't break the habit of writing horrible lies about people."

Smiling serenely, Hermione placed the beetle back inside her schoolbag.

The door of the compartment slid open.

"Very clever, Granger," said Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him. All three of them looked more pleased with themselves, more arrogant and more menacing, than Harry had ever seen them.

"So," said Malfoy slowly, advancing slightly into the compartment and looking slowly around at them, a smirk quivering on his lips. "You caught some pathetic reporter, and Potter's Dumbledore's favorite boy again. Big deal." His smirk widened. Crabbe and Goyle leered. "Trying not to think about it, are we?" said Malfoy softly, looking around at all three of them. "Trying to pretend it hasn't happened?"

"Get out," said Harry.

"You've picked the losing side, Potter! I warned you! I told you you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" He jerked his head at Ron, Bella, Maddy and Hermione. "Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods, Muggle-lovers first and half breeds first!"

"Excuse you," Bella growled. "Get out. Don't you dare use either of those words around us again!" She grabbed Malfoy by the collar of his shirt and threw him out of the room, shoving Crabbe and Goyle out with him and slamming the door shut on the three of them. Her scowl then turned into a smile as she said, "Back to how bri- ow."

Bella had been holding the door closed and Fred and George had just attempted to open it and the handles of the door had apparently hit the Roman demigod in the back.

"Sorry, Bella," George said as the door opened.

"What are you five up to?" Fred asked.

"Nothing," Harry shrugged.

"Well, in that case, Exploding Snap, anyone?" said Fred, pulling out a pack of cards.

They were halfway through their fifth game when Harry asked, "You going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?"

"Oh," said George darkly. " _That._ "

"You were _blackmailing_ someone? Why didn't _I_ know about this!" Maddy exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter," said Fred, shaking his head impatiently. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We've given up," said George, shrugging.

But Harry, Ron, Hermione, Maddy and Bella kept on asking, and finally, Fred said, "All right, all right, if you really want to know... it was Ludo Bagman."

"Bagman?" said Harry sharply. "Are you saying he was involved in-"

"Nah," said George gloomily. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."

"Well, what, then?" said Ron.

Fred hesitated, then said, "You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"

"Yeah," said Harry and Ron slowly. "Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So?"

"So," said Fred impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!"

"But it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" said Hermione.

George laughed very bitterly. "Yeah, that's what we thought, at first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But he didn't. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."

"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," said Fred. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."

"So we asked for our money back," said George glowering.

"He didn't refuse!" gasped Hermione.

"Right in one," said Fred.

" _Dick_ move," Bella commented.

"But that was all your savings!" said Ron.

"Tell me about it," said George. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?" said Maddy.

"He put a bet on Harry," said Fred. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" said Harry. "Well, I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"

"Nope," said George, shaking his head.

"The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Maddy, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."

George sighed deeply and started dealing out the cards again. The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough, and all too soon, the Hogwarts Express was pulling in at platform nine and three-quarters. The usual confusion and noise filled the corridors as the students began to disembark.

"Hey, guys," Bella said to Maddy and Harry as they were about to get off. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

"I guess," Maddy shrugged at the same time.

"I just wanted to say that if either of you have any problems over the summer with what happened, you can contact me," she said.

"Thanks, Bell, but I can handle it," Maddy said. "I've dealt with worse."

"And I know that, but you had other people with you that had gone through the same thing that time. Just, if you need anything, contact me."

"Will do."

"Thanks, Bella," Harry nodded. "But you really don't have-"

"I know I don't have to, but I'm going to. Now let's get going," Bella grabbed her things and headed out of the compartment.


End file.
